BUIES CREEK, North Carolina – The Jerry M. Wallace School of Osteopathic Medicine welcomed Dr. Edward C. Benzel, MD, Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Cleveland Clinic and Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, for the first Grand Rounds of 2016. Internationally recognized as a leader in neurosurgery and education, Dr. Benzel addressed “Bridging the Chasm between Volume and Value Based Medicine.”
Dr. Benzel was invited to speak at CUSOM’s Grand Rounds not only because of his role as a neurosurgeon, but also because of his personal impact on one of CUSOM’s second year medical students.
“When I was a physical therapist at the Cleveland Clinic, I followed Dr. Benzel as he made rounds with attending physicians, surgical fellows and residents,” said Olusegun Onibonoje, MS-II. “He always had a unique and different perspective on the topic at hand – his thinking was unique and uncommon, his knowledge was wide and deep, his personality was humbling, his clinical results were excellent, and he was much revered by his colleagues.”
“At that time in my career, I had so many ideas of what I wanted to do – I needed someone who could provide me with some guidance, mentorship, and direction,” shared Onibooje. “Dr. Benzel was the inspiration I needed. He was a guiding light in writing my textbook*, he was an inspiration for my clinical research, and he provided mentorship in my premedical and medical aspirations. It was an honor to have him visit CUSOM and share his perspective on the need for a return to value based medicine with my fellow students.”
Dr. Benzel spoke to two lecture halls filled with first and second year medical students as well as faculty and staff about the evolution of healthcare in the United States from being a patient centric, value based profession to a volume based profession.
“We have experienced an inversion of the financial foundation of medicine,” said Benzel. “Healthcare is commoditized…is that the kind of world we want to work in?”
Dr. Benzel encouraged students to be informed regarding all of the factors that drive the cost of healthcare as well as what influences physicians in creating treatment plans for their patients.
“A passion of mine is doing what’s right and crafting a better way for us and our patients,” shared Benzel. “Surgeons need to ask themselves if they were the patient, would they have the surgery.”
*Total Hip Arthroplasty: A Comprehensive Guide to Rehabilitation; Olusegun Onibonoje, PT, MSc, and Mark Froimson, MD, MBA.