Impact of Rising Costs on Healthcare

Posted by Gregory F. Murphy, MD | Apr 2022

Congressman Gregory F. Murphy, MD, presented “Impact of Rising Costs on Healthcare” for the Grand Rounds in Urology audience in April 2022.

How to cite: Murphy, Gregory F. “Impact of Rising Costs on Healthcare.” April 2022. Accessed Apr 2024. https://grandroundsinurology.com/impact-of-rising-costs-on-healthcare/

Impact of Rising Costs on Healthcare – Summary

Congressman Gregory F. Murphy, MD, a practicing urologist and the Representative from North Carolina’s 3rd District, discusses rising costs and their impact on healthcare in the United States with E. David Crawford, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Grand Rounds in Urology and Professor of Urology at the University of California, San Diego. Rep. Murphy notes that the United States as a whole is currently experiencing far higher rates of inflation than it has seen in several decades, but he also highlights how healthcare in particular has seen rising costs for the past 30 years. He explains that physician debt coming out of medical school in the early 1990s was around $50,000, and is now closer to $225,000, but physician pay has increased very slowly. Rep. Murphy observes that consumer prices and hospital costs have also increased massively since the early 1990s. He blames this in part on overregulation from the government. Dr. Crawford mentions the hardships faced by small practices, many of whom have shrinking bottom lines and are being bought by venture capital firms. Rep. Murphy and Dr. Crawford opine about the difficulties new doctors and incoming medical students face in a system that seems to value them less and less, and they emphasize the need to protect medical doctors’ interests through legislation.

For more on legislation affecting the medical field from GRU, check out Congressman Greg Murphy, MD, on the Urologist Shortage.

About The Author

Gregory F. Murphy, MD

Originally from Raleigh, Congressman Greg Murphy graduated magna cum laude from Davidson College in 1985. He attended UNC School of Medicine graduating with Honors. After completing his residency in Urology and Renal Transplantation at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, he and his wife, Wendy, settled in Greenville, NC to begin his practice. Dr. Murphy has been the President of Eastern Urological Associates in Greenville, an Affiliate Professor and Chief of the Division of Urology at the ECU School of Medicine, Davidson College’s Alumni President and served on Davidson’s Board of Trustees. Outside of work, he has traveled extensively for the last 35 years as a Medical Missionary, including to India, several parts of Africa, Nicaragua, and Haiti. Dr. Murphy’s professional career has been primarily one of clinical practice and administrative leadership positions. His surgical practice site is Vidant Medical Center, which serves 29 eastern NC counties. He served for three years as Chief of Staff of the Medical Center. As a newcomer to politics, Dr. Murphy served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. During his second term in the General Assembly, he served as Senior Chair of Health Policy and Chair of Health and Human Services Appropriations. Dr. Murphy was the Primary Sponsor of both the STOP Act and the HOPE Act, North Carolina’s two main legislative actions to combat the Opioid Crisis. He led efforts to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the state’s Medicaid system which saved the state hundreds of millions of dollars during his tenure. Dr. Murphy was sworn in to the U.S. Representatives in September 2019, replacing the late Congressman Walter B Jones, Jr. He serves on the House Committee on Education and Labor as well as the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

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