A doctor who died 12 years ago is having an influence on healthcare debates all across the country.
Some 200 bills relating to certificate-of-need laws have been introduced in state legislatures this year. According to Kara Hinkley with the National Conference of State Legislatures, the trend is toward limiting CON by repealing pieces or including moratoriums on CON requirements.
Despite this opposition to the CON process, a new study concluded that certificate of need has done what it set out to do: Control healthcare costs.
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As evidenced by library shelves stacked with medical journals, the science of medicine can be measured in countless ways, but Dr. Richard Levin, the new president and CEO of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, believes the art of medicine—or at least its effects—can be measured as well.
I spoke with Levin recently during the Gold Humanism Honor Society's fifth biennial conference and 10th anniversary celebration, held in Rosemont, Ill. He told me about the foundation's roots and its work creating an institute for research on humanism in medicine that will be dedicated to studying the role of compassion, altruism and respect in healthcare.
The foundation was co-founded by Dr. Arnold Gold, a professor of clinical neurology and clinical pediatrics at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, and his wife, Sandra, who served as president and CEO until August. Levin said Dr. Gold was motivated by seeing how "physicians, seduced by new technology, turned away from the tenets of the profession," such as Sir William Osler's words: "Listen to the patient. He is telling you the diagnosis."
"We got so caught up with the idea that technology could take us out of suffering," Levin said.
To instill professionalism, Dr. Gold initiated Columbia's white-coat ceremonies welcoming new medical students into the field of medicine. Levin said the ceremonies are now an annual ritual at 90% of U.S. medical schools—and he notes that the Golds were able to spread this practice without spending money to promote it.
"There was no endowment," he said. "They did it through sheer will and passion."
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