RADIATION ONCOLOGY COMMITTEE REPORT
Radiation Oncology has been facing a manpower shortage in regards to therapists over the past several years. This shortage has become critical in the past year, with subsequent rises in pay for therapists, dosimetrists and other personnel. There has been little help from the Federal Government since Medicare is in a cost-cutting phase and has reduced payments to hospitals for educational purposes. I have seen several national articles in regards to this shortage and we submitted a resolution to the ACR in an attempt to address this issue. We may need to address this issue in more detail,specifically how to increase the number of therapists in training and in the field.
Secondly, there is now a shortage of radiation oncologists (and I am told radiologists) in the field. What I really would like to know is how this situation developed when just a few years ago, we were inundated with articles on the approaching glut of specialists.
Another problem being faced by community radiation oncologists is the problem of large referral centers using unethical "sales tactics" in order to keep patients at their center and not allow them to return home for treatment at a closer and more convenient treatment center. These sales tactics include telling patients that the local center does not have the equipment or expertise to perform the treatment and telling patients that they will get substandard care in their local community. They may even state that the patient will die of their disease if they are not treated in the referral center. This needs to be addressed as an ethical problem. It is unethical to tell patients their care will be substandard if in fact it is not. I feel it is morally reprehensible to tell a patient that they will die if they aren*t treated at institution X. If referral center physicians really believe that their center is the only one who can treat a condition, then we need to educate them that this is not the case. If the reason is economic, then the institutions need to be educated.
Respectively submitted,
Michael Seider, MD |
