When you mix healthcare and money

Bupa thinks the surgeons are doing operations to make money and the surgeons think Bupa is undermining their clinical judgement and suspect that it might be simply to save costs.

The Guardian reports a spat between a health insurer and the consultant surgeons that are operating on its clients knees. We can’t know who is right, all we can say is this is the kind of thing that happens when you mix economic and service incentives.

People paying out money will always want to reduce it and those being paid will always want to maximise it. Of course the vast majority of surgeons want to give just the right care to their patients, but you can see how some might have their heads turned. You can also see how a health company would rush to protect its business model by trying to cut costs.

In the middle is the patient wanting the right treatment for their knee. With all the money floating around no wonder they get forgotten sometimes.

I just hope these kind of spats don’t get more common as the health landscape changes in the next few years.

Best,

Rob