Honestly (I work in healthcare finance in a large health system) the issue isn't lack of funds or staffing but ridiculous misappropriation of funds and staff.
A decent example is Hospitals everywhere regularly burn through admin staff (patient schedulers, coordinators, etc) refusing to give them a livable wage, so they leave. In the departments I have worked for it's uncommon to find someone in these roles who has been there for more than 3 years. These people are the backbone of hospitals (just like residents and fellows) They ask for a raise and get told no, so they leave. This seems like a random side note but the MDs in these departments are earning 10-15x the salary, a salary they earn 100% because of the efforts of the admin staff. When the a MDs admin leaves, their productivity dives, they have to work extra hours to meet quota and they become miserable. But... When budget season comes around the MDs gladly take their 5% raise and 10% bonus without a word about the admin folks that hold them up. Do the math, 5% of a 10x salary is half the admin salary... That's just the raise for inflation!
Every provider should be in support of paying everyone else more, we all are on the same team and need each other. Too many MDs and MBAs (nearly all hospital leadership are MD or MBA) say they want to fix things but don't actually put the ink to paper.
I could give 50 more examples of gross waste, from materials to art for the lobbies, but it just deviates from the point- hospitals can afford to pay these residents and fellows, it wouldn't break the system, it would just require the hospital to pay the people who are actually doing the work for their hours.
The argument is that in a few years the residents and fellows will get their big pay checks but at whose expense ... The patients!
tablesawsally t1_j917md2 wrote
Reply to comment by DippyMagee555 in Penn Medicine residents and fellows want a union, citing grueling workloads and 80-hour workweeks by nankles
Honestly (I work in healthcare finance in a large health system) the issue isn't lack of funds or staffing but ridiculous misappropriation of funds and staff.
A decent example is Hospitals everywhere regularly burn through admin staff (patient schedulers, coordinators, etc) refusing to give them a livable wage, so they leave. In the departments I have worked for it's uncommon to find someone in these roles who has been there for more than 3 years. These people are the backbone of hospitals (just like residents and fellows) They ask for a raise and get told no, so they leave. This seems like a random side note but the MDs in these departments are earning 10-15x the salary, a salary they earn 100% because of the efforts of the admin staff. When the a MDs admin leaves, their productivity dives, they have to work extra hours to meet quota and they become miserable. But... When budget season comes around the MDs gladly take their 5% raise and 10% bonus without a word about the admin folks that hold them up. Do the math, 5% of a 10x salary is half the admin salary... That's just the raise for inflation!
Every provider should be in support of paying everyone else more, we all are on the same team and need each other. Too many MDs and MBAs (nearly all hospital leadership are MD or MBA) say they want to fix things but don't actually put the ink to paper.
I could give 50 more examples of gross waste, from materials to art for the lobbies, but it just deviates from the point- hospitals can afford to pay these residents and fellows, it wouldn't break the system, it would just require the hospital to pay the people who are actually doing the work for their hours.
The argument is that in a few years the residents and fellows will get their big pay checks but at whose expense ... The patients!