[HSF] credentials and other insurances to the common good

[Tea Acuff]

I must be in a quip mood. It is easier to write than a essay or rant. 

I was talking to my younger partner about anesthesia coverage and meeting with a prospective new anesthesiologist that did ICU care, loved hearts (is getting harder to find anesthesia that does cardiac who doesn't prefer better paying and more elective cases), and liked TEE analysis. He looked at me and described succinctly in one sentence the problem with the credentialing mania and more largely the general problem of describing excellence by bureaucratic fiat:

  "The more of those credentials they have, those little pieces of paper that state what they can do, the less they can do."
                                                       Tung Cai MD

Tung usually can talk for hours, but that one sentence is the summation of a whole book on defining healthcare by credentials.