Researchers at the University of Montreal evaluated 870 male and female doctors with regard to their compliance in managing diabetic patients with practice guidelines set by the Canadian Diabetes Association. They found that female MDs followed guidelines that included regular eye and physical exams, and the use of three medications that included a statin drug slightlly better than their male counterparts. On the other hand, male MDs were found to be more "productive," whatever that means!
It was easy to track what every MD did in their practice, because there is an insurance board in Canada that keeps comprehensive records of what every doctor orders. Sounds good, huh?
There are two humungous problems that were not discussed in the study. First of all, do we want the company officials for whom we work to track everything we do in medicine? That means we're responsible to follow their cookbooks for treatment and evaluation of our patients, lest we don't care about what flexibility we to evaluate and treat our patients. And secondly, we work for them and can be fired for non-compliance (this definitely happens!).
This is what is coming as part of the Affordable Care Act!
