Op/ed calling for former military medical providers int he civ sector

Chuckman

Chuckman

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There is no good transitional occupation for enlisted military medical providers. You can't move a corpsman or medic to EMT-P in the back of the bus without some further education. Used to be a Navy IDC could waive first year of PA school, but that's no longer the case. It's important for this idea to gain traction.

https://www.statnews.com/2017/09/22/primary-care-military-medics-corpsmen/
 
Sounds like a great idea to me.

This comment is one key: "Would patients accept treatment from a former medic or corpsman? I believe so." I sure would - no issues there.

Hope there is no opposition from MDs and RNs who went the civilian routes.
 
There is a near critical shortage of these folks. I'd think "the system" would welcome them.
 
Makes too much sense, it'll never happen. Unless some lobbyist convinces lawmakers that there's lots of money to be made.
 
RFMan said:
Sounds like a great idea to me.

This comment is one key: "Would patients accept treatment from a former medic or corpsman? I believe so." I sure would - no issues there.

Hope there is no opposition from MDs and RNs who went the civilian routes.
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As a former Navy (FMF) corpsman and nurse, and now a civvy nurse, I don't think the medical establishment would be threatened, but sure as God made me fat and short, the nursing lobby will be all over this like stink on poop. They are always threatened by stuff like this.

How would prospective patients take it? Depends on the packaging, the training, and the advertising. Ultimately I think most would be all for it if they got what they needed.
 
When I was in from 79-83, only the officers got see actual doctors unless one needed to see a specialist. This resulted in under-educated PA's (not what we call a PA today, but an enlisted person without any college) ignoring questions are just saying something is no big deal. And no knowledge to explain why.
I had to waste a day driving from Holloman AFB to El Paso Texas to see a specialist because the PA didn't know enough to say "that occurs in 25% men, always on the left side and is not an issue unless it gets infected."
I can count the time I saw an doctor in 4 years one hand. Every visit was a PA, except the dentist.
 
My insurance doesn't cover most PA's. We got screwed once because the specialist my wife was supposed to see was late. So a PA came in to start things. That put him on the bill too. Rejected as uncovered provider. Got stuck with a $200 bill.
 
fishgutzy said:
When I was in from 79-83, only the officers got see actual doctors unless one needed to see a specialist. This resulted in under-educated PA's (not what we call a PA today, but an enlisted person without any college) ignoring questions are just saying something is no big deal. And no knowledge to explain why.
I had to waste a day driving from Holloman AFB to El Paso Texas to see a specialist because the PA didn't know enough to say "that occurs in 25% men, always on the left side and is not an issue unless it gets infected."
I can count the time I saw an doctor in 4 years one hand. Every visit was a PA, except the dentist.
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In the Navy, that person is an IDC: Independent Duty Corpsman. Not PAs, but a PA program crammed into a year. Very hard, very high attrition. They are utilized on ships and subs that don't have MDs and can practice independently. PAs, who have masters degrees, cannot practice totally independently in the Navy. Weird.
 
fishgutzy said:
My insurance doesn't cover most PA's. We got screwed once because the specialist my wife was supposed to see was late. So a PA came in to start things. That put him on the bill too. Rejected as uncovered provider. Got stuck with a $200 bill.
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Most insurances will; it depends on how the practice is coding the visit and how the practice specifies the use of a mid-level practitioner. At Duke, if the PA is hired through Duke Hospital or Duke Private Diagnostic Clinic depends on how it gets billed, how much gets billed, and who gets covered. NPs? They can be hired through Duke Hospital, Duke PDC, or Duke Nursing Advanced Practice, and their rules are even more convoluted.
 
Chuckman said:
Most insurances will; it depends on how the practice is coding the visit and how the practice specifies the use of a mid-level practitioner. At Duke, if the PA is hired through Duke Hospital or Duke Private Diagnostic Clinic depends on how it gets billed, how much gets billed, and who gets covered. NPs? They can be hired through Duke Hospital, Duke PDC, or Duke Nursing Advanced Practice, and their rules are even more convoluted.
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Once again, the consumer runs the risk of getting screwed by the one they're paying (the most to) the effing insurance system. We really need to get insurance out of healthcare. Between it and the political lobbies, the people get effed.

Edit to add, I think the idea of having military corpsman handle some functions, like routine primary care could be a much needed solution. I assume they would know or have a pretty good idea when something is over their head and can refer or consult accordingly. This would free up a lot of the MDs from seeing simple stuff and ultimately drive costs down. For example does it take a full blown MD to adjust a thyroid (levothyroxin) or BP medication dose in 95% of the cases or to treat a sore throat? I would say no.
 
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Sneakymedic said:
You can bet your sweet patootie there will be.
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That's what I was afraid of when I read the article, but I'm not in the industry, so I don't really know. Folks like that wouldn't want Michael Faraday to change their light bulbs.
 
Some medical fields need to take notes from history. Things civilian medicine got from the military: PAs, CRNAs, helo transport, almost all modern trauma care, blood transfusion for trauma, the modern trauma system...

The AMA would be on the fence. Some medical specialties would be against it. Nursing sure as hell would be against it.
 
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