Doc Codes, Cont’d
In his Nov. 13 letter, Dr. Richard Corlin, president-elect of the American Medical Association, takes issue with the Oct. 23 letter by myself and Dr. Robert Cihak that criticizes the AMA’s Current Procedural Terminology process.
Dr. Corlin asserts “many of the statements” we made are “inaccurate.” So, what inaccuracies does Corlin document? None that we can find.
He states, “The AMA is no more responsible for the current healthcare system than it is for the disease and sickness that bring patients to see their physicians in the first place.”
If Dr. Corlin is correct, then the AMA can’t take much credit for what once was the best healthcare system in the world, either.
Dr. Corlin says, “The AMA does not have a monopoly on medical coding.”
We didn’t say the AMA has a monopoly on medical coding. We said the AMA has a monopoly on the CPT. The federal government now “voluntarily” recognizes the CPT code, but from 1983 until about 1998 the AMA’s secret contract with the Health Care Financing Administration required the federal government to use the CPT system.
Most everybody agrees that “appropriate” payment is roughly proportional to the quality of the work done. Under CPT coding, one size fits all; the best brain surgeon in the world gets credit for the same job as does a newly minted surgeon fresh out of training.
Incidentally, a recent national poll on Tim Pickering’s Web site, www.myhealth.com, reveals that 95% of respondents feel the CPT codes should be in the public domain.
Michael Arnold Glueck, MD
Newport Beach
The Election, Cont’d
So the Democrats want to use legal means to overturn an election. What an abuse of the legal system!
Hmmm
Maybe it’s payback for all the Republicans did when they used the legal system (and a pot full of taxpayers’ money) to try to get rid of a president for lying under oath about his sex life.
Hmmm!
Barry M. Gold
Barry M. Gold & Co.
Irvine
El Toro, Cont’d
The OC Board of Supervisors should take a lesson in political etiquette from the Burbank City Council.
The Burbank Airport expansion issue has been kicked around for years and their council finally put it on the recent ballot and the measure passed big-time. Passage does not signal support for or opposition to expansion, but only the right of residents to ultimately decide the issue. Any agreement between the city and the Airport Authority to relocate or expand the airport terminal now requires prior approval by Burbank voters.
Such thoughtful concern for the will of the people is an anomaly to us in Orange County where the Board majority routinely fails to get the message delivered by Measure F.
Jim Davy
Dana Point
Good Work
Just a note to thank Chris Cziborr for his fine story on Soka University in the Nov. 6 issue.
I appreciate the amount of detail that he put into the story. It’s not often you get to work with a reporter who gets all of the facts right!
Wendy W. Harder
Director of Community Relations
Soka University of America
Aliso Viejo
