Competition between doctors: who wins?
As part of the reform of the healthcare system in Ukraine, the issue of a possible increase in competition between clinics and doctors is being actively discussed. Is this correct? Let’s get a look.
The country has long had competition between public clinics and private ones. Patients choose between the first and second, depending on whether they have free time, money, quality of service, etc.
Should we be afraid that only private medicine will develop in our country? Unlikely. Many will continue to be serviced by government agencies. And it is not necessary that the doctors who will work in these clinics will be worse than private ones.
In this regard, it is much more appropriate to consider the issue of competition between physicians themselves.
Reputation rating
Imagine a situation: a patient has a complex problem – oncology. What does he do first? Looking for someone to help him. That is, he does not think that “now I will go to my district doctor, let him refer me to a specialist …”. He starts looking for names, personalities. And at the same time, the question of where this person works – in a state cancer center or a private clinic, the patient cares little. He needs a doctor. If they say that Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich is the coolest mammologist in oncology, the patient will go to him. And if it turns out, for example, that this doctor works in a state clinic, it will not matter.
Today, patients go to names. Moreover, not titles, as before (for associate professor, professor, department or something else), but for names.
You can find a good doctor without any degrees, publications and pretentious titles. And that is competition. The competition that the market itself creates. No one imposed it, no one offered it – the choice is made by the patients themselves.
Moreover, it is interesting that few people use the ratings of doctors. After all, who conducts them with us? Often specialized media or portals, the objectivity of which is deeply questionable.
On some forums or in social networks, you can also “get lost”. Everyone writes about doctors there – they deify, and are rude, and slander. It’s like Brownian motion.
Therefore, word of mouth remains the main and most reliable source of information. And it is precisely this, which often still affects the competitiveness of a doctor in the market.
help yourself
It is very bad that our state does not think about the personality of a doctor. In the old way, it works for the system – it thinks about the people, and not about every single person. But medicine is precisely “individual people”. Therefore, the role of a particular doctor in it is invaluable.
And this, by the way, can once again prove the medical reform, in which patients will “rate” at least family doctors.
It is time for all other doctors to think about their qualifications and professional reputation. And not only word of mouth should help in this, but also managerial and marketing skills, the desire to constantly develop, learn new things. It is also important to connect to the eHealth system (so that as many patients as possible know about you), learn how to properly plan your work, use gadgets that allow you to be in touch with the patient 24/7.
That is, today’s doctor must do everything so that patients go to him, so that both public and private clinics fight for him. This, by the way, will spur the development of the healthcare system as a whole. After all, the fact that good doctors will work in the clinic will only add pluses to it.
As for the competition between clinics and the doctors themselves, there are also positive aspects to note. Indeed, an increase in healthy competition in any case leads to an improvement in the quality of services provided.
