Optimism Will Prevail

Dr. Jerry M. Wiener alluded to me in his letter in the April 20 issue. He was evidently quoting a Psychiatric News report that claimed I had “inveterate optimism” regarding negotiations with managed care. Dr. Wiener confesses that he has learned the folly of such optimism.

It is true I am an optimistic person and that I firmly believe we will ultimately prevail over managed care, as I have been saying for years. Indeed there was a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association describing the death of managed care. This represents a major change from the defeatist position of most of organized medicine of just a few years ago that managed care is here to stay.

My optimism is about the defeat of managed care, and the negotiations I would recommend are the terms of their surrender.

Dr. Eist is a former president of APA.