Heard this week

“Can you imagine another group of professionals—whether they be attorneys, accountants or dentist— allowing themselves to be lumped together under terms like “legal provider,” “finance provider” or “dental care provider”? Unlikely. It’s so non-specific, and is used almost anywhere, including referring to “cable TV providers,” “electricity providers,” or “telephone providers.” It’s a pattern in life that if you want to lower the power and clout of a group of people, start first by changing what you call them, and replace a respected title with a murky one.”

-Suneel Dhand, MD, discusses the increasing use of the word “provider” to describe physicians on his blog.