Eugene Bloom Interview

Interview with Doctor Eugene Bloom
Jennifer Albert
HCM300 – Healthcare Principles and Practices
Colorado State University – Global Campus
Dr. Evelynn Shinn
December 19th, 2014

Interview with Doctor Eugene Bloom
Healthcare has drastically changed over the course of many years. Many of the changes our country has seen in healthcare have been beneficial, and others have not. In fact, most people seem to be unhappy with the rising costs, and lack of quality care. To gain perspective into something, it is always best to turn to a person who has had personal experience with a particular topic. In the case of changes in healthcare, we can look to healthcare professionals, past or present, and ask them about the changes that they have seen, and
how they think this will affect our future. I am lucky enough to have a grandfather who worked in the medical industry as a Gastroenterologist for about forty years, and was open to answering these questions for me.
The first question I asked my grandfather, Doctor Eugene Bloom, for our interview was how the practice of medicine has changed over the past five years.
Not surprisingly, his first response was in regards to the Affordable Care Act. Dr. Bloom began to explain to me that although the number of uninsured people was getting very high, the Affordable Care Act allows for more people to become insured. Before the Affordable Care Act came about, students had the opportunity to be covered under insurance by their parents until they graduated college at an average age of twenty-two. Now, insurance companies are required to allow parents to keep their children on their insurance until the age of twenty-six. However, this does not mean that the parents are required to continue paying for their children’s insurance. In addition, anyone who had a preexisting condition before the Affordable Care Act, such as cancer, may not have been able to change insurance companies without it costing a fortune. If they were to switch insurance companies, they may not have been covered for any medications they would need toward the condition they had. However, this policy has changed, and anyone who has a preexisting condition can get coverage for it. From my interview with Dr. Bloom, my overall conclusion is that in the past five years more people have been able to gain access to healthcare insurance. Although the insurance does cost money, this is a drastic transformation that has
occurred.
The second topic that Dr.
Bloom and I discussed was how the healthcare industry has changed in the past ten years. Dr. Bloom explained that over the course of the past ten years physicians have been more willing to consolidate and give up their practices to work in small or larger groups. By consolidating, physicians can gain a better contract for reimbursement and economic power. Another benefit to the physician is that they would be able to maintain a better lifestyle. For example, if a physician were to have multiple partners in their practice, there is more opportunity for coverage if they want to take a vacation with their family. Along with working in larger practices, physicians have also become more inclined to become hospital employees because it gives them a greater amount of security. According to Sultz and Young (2014), the American Hospital Association reported in 2012 that the number of physicians employed by hospitals has grown by 32% since 2000. In my interview with Dr. Bloom, he also explained to me that hospitals offer better benefits to physicians. Hospital employment has become more desirable due to factors such as flat reimbursement rates, complex insurance and health information technology requirements, high malpractice premiums, and a desire for greater work-life balance (Sultz & Young,
2014).
The last interview question that I had for Dr. Bloom was if he believes that there will be challenges for providers in the next five to ten years. Dr. Bloom believes there will be challenges including the responsibility of the provider to deliver cost effective care. In the future, reimbursement to the provider will be judged on the quality of care and the efficiency of care. Another challenge that Dr. Bloom sees, which is also an unfortunate truth, is that people will be more hesitant to go into medicine because the cost of medical education is extremely high. Most individuals who go into medicine will have to take out loans, and currently already do. Since reimbursement has been reined in so much, the ability to pay back these loans and live a lifestyle that they have envisioned will be more difficult. Although working in medicine is very rewarding, people might not want to be worried about putting food on the table with all the debt they will have.
In conclusion, the interview with my grandfather has given me a great perspective of how much the healthcare industry has changed over the past five to ten years. I also have insight of what the future holds for heath care, which can be quite scary for doctors and patients alike. Although many changes have been made to better the industry, there are many things to still work on as well. One can only hope that eventually people will be able to get the cost effective care that they deserve, and the quality to go along with it.

Reference:
Sultz, H., & Young, K. (2014). Heath Care USA. Understanding its Organization and Delivery (8th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.