We just did a fantastic interview with the legendary G. Keith Smith, MD, co-founder of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma.
Early in the interview, Dr. Smith speaks of the motivation that pushed him and his partner, Dr. Steven Lantier to divest themselves from the government-insurance-hospital system back in the late 1990s: They wanted to stop enabling what Smith identified as “financial serial killers,” so-called non-profit institutions that end up charging astronomical prices for healthcare yet have no qualms about bankrupting defenseless patients who are unable to pay those prices.
To my mind, the ethical aspect of the free-market (or, conversely, the unethical aspect of the crony healthcare system) is the most fundamental one and ought to be stressed (rather than its efficiency and sustainability). Naturally, that is also the most under-appreciated aspect since healthcare economists, policy makers, and healthcare academics constantly vilify private practice doctors for being profit-driven, all-the-while concocting ruinous schemes in the name of fairness and equity.
Later on, Smith explains how the system puts doctors in an adversarial position with respects to buyers who are viewed as people from whom doctors must “extract revenue” as opposed to people to whom we must provide value.
We covered many aspects of Keith Smith’s successful experience as a pioneer in restoring sound medical practice and touched on what the future portends. I’m sure you will enjoy that great conversation.
(By the way, I hope that in a matter of 2-3 weeks we will have the show up on podcast format. Also, we will be interviewing great guests on a regular basis, so stay tuned or subscribe to our YouTube channel or to the podcast when it comes out)
Timestamps:
- 0:00-9:30: The early history of the Surgery Center of Oklahoma
- 9:30-16:10: Reaching out to self-funded employers and aligning financial incentive
- 16:10-22:55: Are there barriers to entry into the healthcare free market?
- 25:50-35-10 : Debunking health policy myths by simple example: EHR, Transparency, Quality, Safety…
- 35:10-46.12: The Surgery Center of Oklahoma 10 years into it.
- 46.12-49:20: Help the poor versus helping poor individuals
- 49:20-end: Why free market medicine is unstoppable
I watched the entire interview and loved it.
Dr. Smith did an excellent job explaining the issues and I commend him.
I agree with him regarding avoiding any regulation to demand “price transparency “ as it would result in group think price fixing. Price disclosure should be motivated naturally by the market. Price is the language we use to satisfy demand and supply. Awesome interview. I pushed it in social media and to our association of physicians.
Great interview, it deserves its length. Excellent questions too! Did I hear right, no electronic health records?
Keep up the good work?
Thanks, Marc!
This article is like Dr Patch Adams who has been developing a new nursing care strategy which has been about freeing care for those needing nursing care from the system of nursing homes. I think the time has come to divest from government in many areas and the ideas for free and private medical care as it was before Medicare and insurance is not only feasible but doable. Many who have chronic problems can benefit from taking care of these problems and finding ways to fund acute care can be better served. It has always been my take as to why chronic care ahas never been separated from acute care the same as dental and eyes. Keep up the good work and hopefully more and more doctors will go the free route patient oriented and all.