Just Give it Away.

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Our family headed out of town for the holiday. A few of us like country music. As we drove down the highway, on came George Strait’s “Just Give it Away.” It’s a catchy tune, so we immediately sang along… “just give it away… Ain’t nothing worth fight for… tired of fightin’ anyway, so just give it away.” As the song went on, I couldn’t help but think of medicine.

Yep ~ a 2 decade old song about divorce, made me think of healthcare.

Why? Because I couldn’t help but think physicians literally gave away our profession.
You read that right: we gave it away.

With all the chaos and unhappiness in healthcare, there is discussion about who is to blame: big hospital networks? Administrators? Private Equity? Sure all those contributed to the crappy system we have now. I suppose there is enough blame to go around.

But in my eyes, most of the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of physicians.
As a group, doctors “gave it away.”
We gave away our profession.

  • We gave our profession to the businessmen who convinced us we couldn’t manage our own practices.
  • We gave our profession to the insurance companies who tell us how to practice, what tests we can order, and what meds are approved for our patients.
  • We gave our profession to the hospital administrators who set policy, choose our EHR (do you really think ANY physician would choose EPIC?!) and determine our worth.

Healthcare is such a mess. Many doctors think “There ain’t nothing worth fighting for…”
But I wholeheartedly disagree. Our profession IS worth fighting for.
DPC doctors are fighting every day.
We said NO to a system that is complicated, a system that is too expensive, a system that is not putting patients first.
DPC doctors chose to replace that system with a straightforward, affordable, personal primary care option.
If only we could convince our physician colleagues to stand up, have a titanium spine and say NO to those who have taken our profession: administrators, insurance companies and businessmen who think they know better.

Don’t give our profession away. Take it back.
Take it back. Fight for our profession. Fight to let DOCTORS be DOCTORS.

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About Amy Walsh, MD

Family always comes first: I am married to Whitey and can't imagine life without him. I have 4 great kids who screw up from time to time; but they are still pretty damn cool. Dog mom to 2 yellow labs who are exhausting and messy, but we love them. Happy DPC doctor since 2015 as the system wore me down and made me miserable. Luckily I found DPC. I found “my people” and never looked back. DPC was my best career decision without a doubt. Former varsity gymnast at the University of Michigan: I refer to those years as my “first life.” I learned about hard work, goal setting, and most importantly the value of true friendship. Hey, did you know UM gymnastics won NCAA Natty in 2021. Such a proud moment.Go Blue! Have been accused of being Type A, OCD, perfectionist, competitive. I may agree with most of those, but prefer words like focused, determined and committed. See? I have learned to use those all to my advantage.