Is There a Doctor in the House: The Rebranding of Healthcare
By: Maurice A. Ramirez & Allison A. Sakara
The movement towards healthcare reform in the United States, like so many medical advances, has brought with it a plethora of unintended side effects, none so insidious as the recent call for the “standardization” of medical professional designations. The reason for the renaming of degrees and titles for doctors and other healthcare practitioners is to “reduce confusion on the part of healthcare consumers,” but the real effect is a homogenization of healthcare that blurs the lines between the unique medical professions and will only serve to befuddle the public.
To punctuate this issue, we have collected the current and proposed revised degrees into a single “score card of doctors:”
Degree | Profession or Professional Designation | Former Designation |
MDA | MD-Allopathic | MD (Allopathic Physician) |
MDB | MD-Botanical | Doctor of Herbal Medicine |
MDC | MD-Chiropractic | DC (Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine |
MDD | MD-Dentistry | MDD (Oral Surgeon) |
MDE | MD-Eastern | MDO (Doctor of Oriental Medicine)
MDAc (Doctor of Acupuncture) |
MDF | MD- | |
MDG | MD- | |
MDH | MD-Holistic | Doctor of Holistic Medicine |
MDI | MD-Iruvedic | Doctor of Iruvedic Medicine |
MDJ | MD-Juris | MD/JD |
MDK | MD-Kinesiology | Doctor of Kinesiology |
MDL | MD- | |
MDM | MD-Midlevel | DNP |
MDN | MD-Naturopath | (Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine) |
MDO | MD-Osteopathic | DO (Osteopathic Physician) |
MDP | MD-Podiatric | DPM (Podiatrist) |
MDQ | MD- | |
MDR | MD- | |
MDS | MD-Shaman | Shaman (Native American Healer) |
MDT | MD-Tantric | Sex Therapist |
MDU | MD- | |
MDV | MD-Veterinary | DVM (Vetrinarian) |
MDW | MD-Wifery | Advanced Practice Nurse Midwife |
MDX | MD- | |
MDY | MD- | |
MDZ | MD- |