Moving Reform to the Bedside: Involvement of Individual Physicians

April 7, 2010

As the health care reform debate has become more fractious and politicized, the need for clear, productive, and patient-centered input from physicians has increased. The cumulative actions of individual physicians can have a substantial effect on meaningful and lasting reform. For the medical profession to assume a leadership role, individual physicians will need to (1) acknowledge the inequitable and dysfunctional nature of the current health care system and the role of physicians in perpetuating that system, (2) examine his or her professional responsibilities to the public, and (3) take action with specific concrete behaviors that will facilitate and guide efforts to improve the health care system. [Premium (JAMA)]