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Bill seeks $2.1M for optometry school - The Robesonian

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Bill seeks $2.1M for optometry school
The Robesonian
RALEIGH — Freshman Sen. Danny Britt introduced a bill Wednesday that seeks more than $2 million for the construction of a school of optometry at The University of North Carolina at Pembroke. Wednesday was a busy day for Robeson County's new ...

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Thank God, a week went by, and no one had announced a new Optometry school! What with the shortage of Optonetrists....
 
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Matthew Piper said:
I remember that, too. Scary that this idea was resurrected.
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I wonder why it came up again, 11 years later? That's a pretty long gestation time. Perhaps the financial crash of 2008 put the brakes on it?
 
Yes. Why was it brought up again? Who's trying to make money and screw some new grads?
 
Consider pharmacy:

"At least 4 new (pharmacy) schools opened every year between 2005 and 2012, and another 5 new pharmacy schools are slated to open in 2015-2016"

What could possibly go wrong?

 
Greg Gemoules said:
It's part of the plan to bring down healthcare costs?

I foresee that in about 20 years most physicians will be working for hospitals and salaried. We'll be working for retailers and salaried.
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I don't see any over supply problems for MDs. I don't think there's been an expansion of medical residency programs have there? If anything there will be a large under supply.
 
h.c. jang said:
I don't see any over supply problems for MDs. I don't think there's been an expansion of medical residency programs have there? If anything there will be a large under supply.
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Hmmm, not sure. However, the trend has been for hospitals to purchase practices. I recently had surgery abroad - in France. I spent 2 nights in the hospital. The total bill, including the surgery, was about $3600, or a little over 1500 Euros per day. BCBS came out way ahead because this happened in France instead of the U.S. When the doctors work for the hospital or are even independent contractors with the hospital it enables them to bundle all services.
 
Greg Gemoules said:
Hmmm, not sure. However, the trend has been for hospitals to purchase practices. I recently had surgery abroad - in France. I spent 2 nights in the hospital. The total bill, including the surgery, was about $3600, or a little over 1500 Euros per day. BCBS came out way ahead because this happened in France instead of the U.S. When the doctors work for the hospital or are even independent contractors with the hospital it enables them to bundle all services.
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Greg

I've read your story about your stay in a hospital over in Europe found it very interesting. After experiencing it yourself do you think it is a route the US should consider? As an American I was taught to look down on socialized medicine, but after my wife had a one night stay in the hospital with barely any testing done that with premiums paid, deductibles and all it cost around $5K out of pocket is making me think a little harder on the issue.

Thanks
 
Michael Barris said:
You were an inadvertent medical tourist, and now you share your experience with the 20,000 subscribers to ODwire.
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Yes, that is true. The surgeon said my injury is very common there, as you might expect at the foot of the tallest peak in the alps and one of the most dangerous because of the sheer volume of extreme sports enthusiasts attracted to it. I counted several visits by the helicopter during my stay.

The hospital equipment looked dated by our standards, but I think that the surgeon's skill was more than up to the task. A French or EU citizen would have paid even less, and I have no idea how much of my treatment was subsidized by taxes in some way. I was well prepared to pay much, much more for my treatment, and expected as much. Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised. It seems is if only cute female orderlies were selected for the daily trip to the shower. Meals were nutritious and good and coffee was outstanding. I was served breakfast on the day of surgery. When I expressed surprise, they responded: "Your surgery isn't until this afternoon." Pain control was also very conservative as two extra strength Paracetamol (acetominophen) seemed to be the standard of care. Those did absolutely nothing for the pain, and a little begging got me a couple of morphine capsules and a tramadol.
 
Derrick Randall said:
Greg

I've read your story about your stay in a hospital over in Europe found it very interesting. After experiencing it yourself do you think it is a route the US should consider? As an American I was taught to look down on socialized medicine, but after my wife had a one night stay in the hospital with barely any testing done that with premiums paid, deductibles and all it cost around $5K out of pocket is making me think a little harder on the issue.

Thanks
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Derrick, I think it's always a tradeoff. I think that anything that becomes socialized becomes inefficient and quality takes a back seat to costs. Health care in this country has become a Frankenstein of government controls and private enterprise. Just look at your own situation as you are spending more and more time dealing with regulatory and compliance issues. When you are a government employee you don't need malpractice insurance. When I was interested in becoming a doctor, I didn't think too much about the pay except that I figured I would be more than adequately compensated. But just look at what some of the younger doctors are having to deal with in the UK with their work rules and compensation. They have very little choice. I was there for a limited amount of time. I wonder what it would be like to walk in the shoes of a French physician.

But we are indeed on that track and I think we are drifting in that direction.
 
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Greg Gemoules said:
Derrick, I think it's always a tradeoff. I think that anything that becomes socialized becomes inefficient and quality takes a back seat to costs. Health care in this country has become a Frankenstein of government controls and private enterprise. Just look at your own situation as you are spending more and more time dealing with regulatory and compliance issues. When you are a government employee you don't need malpractice insurance. When I was interested in becoming a doctor, I didn't think too much about the pay except that I figured I would be more than adequately compensated. But just look at what some of the younger doctors are having to deal with in the UK with their work rules and compensation. They have very little choice. I was there for a limited amount of time. I wonder what it would be like to walk in the shoes of a French physician.

But we are indeed on that track and I think we are drifting in that direction.
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Greg thanks for the reply, it is interesting you've got to experience both. There doesn't seem to be a clear choice going either way. I pay high premiums and even get a high hospital bill with having insurance, but the service was fast and customized to our situation. But I've also heard from my Canadian classmates that although their MRI was not charged to them, they had to wait weeks and travel a couple hours to get the MRI to confirm an ACL tear. Tough decisions.
 
Greg Gemoules said:
I think that anything that becomes socialized becomes inefficient and quality takes a back seat to costs
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Frequent visits to the facilities of the Niagara Parks Commission (Ontario) over decades have suggested to me that this is not necessarily true.
 
Derrick Randall said:
Greg thanks for the reply, it is interesting you've got to experience both. There doesn't seem to be a clear choice going either way. I pay high premiums and even get a high hospital bill with having insurance, but the service was fast and customized to our situation. But I've also heard from my Canadian classmates that although their MRI was not charged to them, they had to wait weeks and travel a couple hours to get the MRI to confirm an ACL tear. Tough decisions.
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Well, it's pretty clear to me that we benefit from better availability of the best technology. How can it be otherwise. The question is how to pay for it and make it more available. Why is it that in everything but medicine, we are constantly developing newer and better and the cost eventually goes down. In a society where a person at the poverty level has an iPhone and a television, why can't this happen in medicine? Maybe because the food chain is too long?

I don't pretend to know much about the French system. I know it is both public and private. One wouldn't understand until they lived there for awhile.
 
Derrick Randall said:
Greg thanks for the reply, it is interesting you've got to experience both. There doesn't seem to be a clear choice going either way. I pay high premiums and even get a high hospital bill with having insurance, but the service was fast and customized to our situation. But I've also heard from my Canadian classmates that although their MRI was not charged to them, they had to wait weeks and travel a couple hours to get the MRI to confirm an ACL tear. Tough decisions.
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Derrick, I paid so little in France that I felt like giving them a huge tip!
 
h.c. jang said:
I don't see any over supply problems for MDs. I don't think there's been an expansion of medical residency programs have there? If anything there will be a large under supply.
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There are approximately 60 less residencies than there are graduating medical students.
Ophthalmology reduced the number of residencies in the early 1980's, just when the HMO's starting taking hold, and haven't increased them since then.
 
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