@zackcooperYale Health care economists always have an opinion about the income physicians make. Problem is your view tends to be limited. Sure we make a decent amount of money. Not sure why we have to keep explaining why when our income does not impact healthcare costs. Don't conflate our
@zackcooperYale 2)earnings with what our employers make. Most EPs make a salary, no overtime, no sick pay, no vacation time. But the exorbitant educational debt necessary to pursue our chosen career, yeah, let's ignore that. We make more than the average person, but I'm not sure how many of
@zackcooperYale 3)those individuals have an outstanding $300,000+ debt. The higher charges in an ED can be attributed to the hospital and again, the corporations that employee physicians. These companies which are owned by private equity which, no surprise, want to increase profits for their
@zackcooperYale 4)shareholders. How do they do that? By gauging patients. The patient's insurance companies? Welllll....they decide arbitrarily they will not pay for whatever they don't want to pay for...after the fact. But let's blame that on the docs also. Insurance can make all ED visits
@zackcooperYale 5)in-network. Especially since emergencies aren't planned. Ask yourself, why don't they? Anthem Blue Cross decided that they won't be paying for ED visits if the visit is determined to be non-emergent after evaluation. Now, how the hell would a patient know that their chest pain
@zackcooperYale 6)is not a heart attack? But health economists and some of the public want to keep harping on what physicians get paid. Last EM job I applied for in a rural area offered me $67/hour. Same job, same risks, just less people and no specialty services. All care transferred out.
@zackcooperYale 7)Compensation for physicians has not increased in the last 20 years and in some areas it has dropped. Yet patients are living longer and are more complex than ever. The answer? Terminate physicians and hire less qualified health care professionals--just sell the idea they do
@zackcooperYale 8)what we do. So here's the bottom line. Physicians get paid for their expertise. No one, including health care economists, have the right to determine our worth. We do that. I don't tell you how much you should get paid, don't tell me. If you insist on focusing on pay, then look
@zackcooperYale 9)at what health insurance executives and medical group CEOs get paid. Because this conversation blaming docs for the financial ills of health care is getting old and tired. You're too fixated. Step outside of the box for a change. And I will leave you with a word of wisdom from
@zackcooperYale 10)a colleague. I could not have said it better myself. 
