Dr. Kube was featured in Becker’s Spine Review in a feature titled, “Ask Spine Surgeons.” It is a weekly series of questions posed to spine surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care. Dr. Kube discusses practicing defensive medicine.
Dr. Kube’s response: We probably practice some form of defensive medicine daily. Some of this is in the form of ordering tests and studies a little more aggressively than I might usually do. Some patients will come in demanding an MRI for example. Many times it is unnecessary, or at least it is too early in the evaluation process to consider one. If the patient is very demanding, we often accommodate to avoid any potential for a “failure to diagnose.” The other more frequent example is the dramatic increase in documentation. This affects our direct overhead as staff time is required to perform these tasks. Not a phone call goes by without some type of note going into the patient chart regarding the conversation. There is just a larger amount of overall time spent documenting and carefully choosing words than before which takes time away from patient care or adds to the work day.
To read the article in its entirety, click on the link below:
