Here is how a physician can be a steward of health care resources

I knew from the first day of medical school that this doctor business was not going to be easy. We were told how many newwords and and concepts we had to master in the next few months,how some of us would not make it and how as physicians -if we even made it that far-would continues to have to work hard to continue to master new information and techniques.

As the years went by medical school, residency, fellowship all had their share of difficulty concepts to master and there was always something else to learn - always the perception that you needed to known all you could as you had people's health and lives in your hands.The rewards could be great but so were the challenges and the continuing obligation.

But then with the publication of the Physician Charter,the new medical professionalism,things seem to get even harder as a new daunting task appeared on the scene. Now doing your best for your patient to live up to your fiduciary duty was not enough, you also had to work for social justice and be a steward of society's finite medical resources.

Wow, that certainty didn't sound easy. In fact I had no clue as to how to live up to that new obligation nor understood  exactly what these those terms even meant and was it not the case that sometime an individual's best interests conflicted with those of society assuming that the later interests could even be appropriately defined.

It was years later when I finally realized how I could live up to these new ethical obligations an exemplify the traits expected and demanded of a professional in the new milimeum and now it seems very easy.

It is easy because the medical progressives,the elite,the thought leaders , the hierarchy of various medical professional organizations will make it easy for the rank and file medical practitioners in the field. These leadesr will determine what is of value not only to the patients but to society. So based on what is high value guidelines will be forthcoming and the field docs will only have to adhere to them to do what is right for the patient which will also be what is in the best interests of society.

 Any concern that I might have had about some conflict between the interests of the individual patient and society will vanish because as Victor Fuchs has told us what is good for the group will necessarily have to be good for your patient as well as he is a member of the group which is benefited. It gets better. The tests or procedures that you deny your patient is now understood to not be rationing at all. This is the case because some of the members of ACP elite has wisely redefined rationing as restricting the use of effective,high value care. So restricting lower value are is not by definition rationing at all.

This important role of determining what is high and what is not high value care is not the slam dunk that some members of the USPSTF task force said in regard to their pronouncement of no need to do any PSA screening. No this type analysis requires specialized expertise and training and is "typically performed by investigators", ( such as those writing the above referenced Annals article)