Kennis Dillon ’16 – As the first day of the Health Care Immersion Program (HCIP), both of the speakers offered very valuable information. They presented a side of healthcare that isn’t readily focused on by those pursuing a career in medicine — the financial/business side.
Mr. Niezer has had a plethora of experience running hospitals as Chief Operating officer where as Dr. Kolisek has worked as the president of Ortho-Indy — a small and private orthopedics center in Indianapolis. I learned from Mr. Niezer about the various incentives and motivations that may drive hospitals to shift geographic location, or how larger corporations monopolize hospitals in order to turn a profit. He outlined the example of three Fort Wayne hospitals in specific cases where the business side and desire to make profits, override mission and non-profit organizations. However he seemed to present a case that caters more to practicing physicians. Thankfully our next speaker was able to shed a bright light on patient-surgeon interactions.
Dr. Frank Kolisek provided a more in-depth analysis of how surgeons interact and decide how to charge patients depending on what type of health insurance coverage they have. I appreciated his openness and honesty about common practice when prescribing specific tests and how much doctors normally charge on bills. To my surprise I learned how remarkable the discount patients under Medicare receive when it comes time to pay their hospital bill. I feel that as a physician the opinions of how little Medicare pays doctors may have been slightly biased but this doesn’t make his claims untrue. It is only the first day of the first year this HCIP has been enacted, that this has set a very high marker for how future speakers present their information on specific issues related to health care.
Tomorrow I look forward to moving outside of the hotel meeting room and being around a physician in an actual hospital setting which is something I have not been able to do in the Pre-Health Society on campus. This wide array of opportunities should spark plenty of faculty and student support in years to come.
