tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11034229.post8653545004504858396..comments2023-07-14T02:53:40.719-07:00Comments on retired doc's thoughts: doctor-nurses versus doctor-doctors-The AMA makes it clear where it standsjames gaultehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05537303135780186926noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11034229.post-54206113045715215172009-10-20T16:33:43.567-07:002009-10-20T16:33:43.567-07:00You bet there's a conflict of interest!
Mary ...You bet there's a conflict of interest!<br /><br />Mary Mundinger, recently resigned dean at Columbia School of Nursing, established the DNP (doctor of nursing practice) and is the leading advocate for replacing physicians with advanced practice nurses. http://hcrenewal.blogspot.com/2006/03/to-whom-do-udidoos-owe-duty.html<br /><br /><br /><b>There is more to the story.Mundinger is entwined with healthcare industry corporate interests.</b> She is on the Board of Directors of UnitedHealth Group, Welch Allyn, Gentiva Health Systems (nationwide provider of home health & nursing services), and Cell Therapeutics.<br /><br /><b>Some of Mundinger’s recent industry compensation:</b><br /><br />1. UnitedHealth Group, Inc (a director since 1997):<br />2008 -- $212,113<br />2007-- $329,647<br />2006 -- $486,325 -→ <strong>$1,028,085 from UnitedHealth since 2006 alone.</strong><br /><br />2. Gentiva Heatlh Services, Inc.<br />2008 -- $152,856<br />2007 -- $127,531<br />2006 -- $104,320<br /><br />3. Cell Therapeutics, Inc:<br />2007--$78,696<br />2006 - $92,865<br />2005 - $49,250<br />data from: http://people.forbes.com/profile/mary-o-neil-mundinger/36513<br /><br /><br /><b>Mundinger, a Director of UnitedHealth since 1997, HAS RECEIVED OVER 1 MILLION DOLLARS IN COMPENSATION FROM UNITEDHEALTH SINCE 2006 ALONE.</b> As of December 2007, Mundinger held 32,000 shares of UnitedHealth stock.<br /><br /><br />In the Pulitzer Prize winning Public Service article, “In Internal Probes of Stock Options, Conflicts Abound,” the reporters note that Mundinger “ . . . shepherded a pioneering project to create a nurse-practitioner clinic in New York. The support of health insurers was critical to getting patients to use it, and UnitedHealth was among several insurers to sign on. In media interviews at the time, UnitedHealth officials spoke approvingly of her project.” http://www.pulitzer.org/archives/7186<br /><br /><br /><b>There is also an issue of alleged involvement in the UnitedHealth options scandal.</b> Fortune reports that the directors “made millions themselves from hefty options grants”, and that “directors regularly signed paperwork approving stock grants bearing an exercise date that was weeks earlier, when the share price was much lower”. The article provides the example of a "written action" signed by Spears, Mundinger and Kean and “authorizing hundreds of thousands of options for the company's top eight executives . . .” http://money.cnn.com/2007/04/24/news/companies/elkind_unitedhealth.fortune/index2.htm<br /><br /><br />How much of Mundinger’s aggressive advocacy to replace physicians with nurses is related to her duties to UnitedHealth insurance company and other healthcare corporations? <b>Mundinger is a highly compensated director of organizations that could profit from her recommendations to replace physicians with less expensive (though NOT equivalently trained) nurses.</b><br /><br /><br /><i>As healthcare reform continues, the issue of nurses replacing physicians will surface as financing is planned. </i> Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of America's Health Insurance Plans, sits on on Mundinger’s Council for the Advancement of Comprehensive Care , the self-described “leading organization for the promulgation of doctoral level clinical nursing.”<br /><br /><br /><b>Of additional concern is that Mundinger has not mentioned her important conflicts of interest in her academic articles and research reports. These articles have propelled the ‘nurse doctor’ movement, and have been cited widely. </b> How much of Mundinger’s work reflects her professional and academic research and beliefs, and how much reflects her fiduciary responsibilities and financial involvement with the healthcare industry?<br /><br /><br /><b>The public and Congress needs to know about the The Nurse "Doctor" Scandal, supported by the UnitedHealth Group and other corporate interests, and the efforts to replace physicians with nurses. </b>There is an extreme amount of corruption here that has led to the inclusion of unsupervised nurse clinics in healthcare reform bills. Without physician oversight and supervision, this poses a risk to patients and to quality healthcare.”Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11034229.post-74666806889294801192009-01-16T14:00:00.000-08:002009-01-16T14:00:00.000-08:00So how long will it take for these nurse-doctors t...So how long will it take for these nurse-doctors to realize there 1s not enough money in primary care to be worth the hassle and then will we see programs for nurse-doctor radiologists,and nurse-doctor dermatologists and nurse-doct Or will the nurse-doctors enhance their practice by employing nurse-doctor assistants?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com