This morning I went to the doctor for a follow up visit. I was met in the hall by a medical assistant in training, who was joined by a more seasoned CMA. The one in training had some challenges. She basically couldn't read any of the names of my medications. She had trouble with the detailed taking of information from blood pressure readings into the system and generally operating Epic, the EHR used by UNC Health (in her defense, everybody who uses it says it's a system from hell). She was nervous. The woman who supported her was patient and calm throughout.
In short, there was nothing but upside in this trainee. It saddens me to think that UNC Health might need to add remedial literacy to fully onboard her, but if that's what has to happen, so be it. Helping her and others like her grow into the workforce is the most important thing in the economy now. If we need to let unemployment run low and inflation high so we can transition people from shitty jobs to better ones, that's OK. If it distributes wealth from those who have it to those who don't in the short term, that's a positive effect and, more importantly, it helps individuals as it expands aggregate productivity, so it's net positive.
Supporting this calls for considerable calm at the level of policy and capital allocation. People can't bug out at a little inflation. We're not going to turn into Weimar Germany or Venezuela. 8% and change is too high, but we could live at 4-5% for a while.
2 comments:
With the number of fixed price mandates, regulatory burdens and rent seeking present in healthcare there is little chance that medical assistant is going to change income inequality. Many of the low level service jobs in medicine in the USA are entirely unnecessary. Concierge physicians have a nurse and that’s it.
Of course one person coming up the value chain isn't going to change anything. But if we can let inflation run a little higher while bringing more people into the workforce and training them better as unemployment stays low, we might hope that it would net out positive over time in terms of growing a resilient workforce.
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