I recently submitted five health policy questions to the presidential candidates. These questions were drafted by the physician community on Sermo, which now has over 90,000 members. I promptly received both candidate’s official answers and posted them on Sermo 2 days ago, along with a survey to assess the reactions to the candidate’s responses. To my knowledge, this is the first time that physicians have a direct line of communication with major political figures, bypassing the distortions of biased mediators. Although I’m a strong supporter of reforming the healthcare system in a bottom-up manner, engaging the political establishment will ensure the development of sound policy initiatives that can encourage innovation and curtail the current paradigm of wasteful spending.

Here are the questions that I submitted to the candidates:

• The foundation of our healthcare system, the primary care doctor, is critically endangered. What would you do to ensure an adequate supply of primary care physicians to care for our growing and aging population?

• Driven by profit motives, third parties are increasingly dictating the practice of medicine by exercising undue authority over healthcare processes. What is your plan to prevent these entities from standing in the way of patient care and the doctor-patient relationship?

• Do you believe that physicians in general are fairly compensated? What steps would you take to ensure fair and adequate compensation of all physicians given the intense commitment and financial burden that it takes to become a physician?

• Do you believe that healthcare requires more regulation in this country? What are the main areas where you would want to see more regulatory control and oversight?

• The practice of defensive medicine is a substantial burden on our healthcare system and many physicians are distressed and financially strained by the current malpractice situation. What liability reform plans do you endorse to deal with this problem?

Filed under: Health Policy, Open Letter Campaign