Doctor’s Diary July 25, 2019: Practicing evidence-based medicine

(Snippets from the frontline)

Practicing evidence-based medicine

Evidence-based medicine is the foundation for decision-making when you seek care from a medical professional.  It has evolved over centuries from the scientific method utilizing hypothesis, observation, and experimentation while harnessing honed information to guide patient care.

Doctors oversee your care assuring educated, logical, and effective treatment will get you back to normal health.

There are some medical professionals who do not adhere to the dictums of evidence-based care.  They work for insurance companies, hospitals, and pharmaceutic agencies who deny care based on the bottom line and profit margin of their employer.  Some are even incentivized with bonus pay to deny care.  Why do some physicians comply with the gold standard of evidence-based care, while others are allowed to ignore it?

I make evidence-based decisions for a patient to undergo special testing, have surgery, or start a new medication.  Yet, when an insurance company, hospital, or a pharmacy denies care overruling my judgement, their doctors are not held accountable medically, legally, or morally.

Profit has shifted medical decision-making, while the patient suffers.

There is ample evidence-based studies to prove this.

Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D.

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