Ethical issues regarding use of the term 'provider' -
Sharing recent publications discussing this topic:
- Suk M. Beyond "Provider": Recommendations to Turn Consensus Into Action. Ann Intern Med. 2026 Aug 11. doi: 10.7326/ANNALS-26-01556. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42574732.
- Snyder Sulmasy L, Carney JK; ACP Ethics, Professionalism and Human Rights Committee. Physicians are not providers: the ethical significance of names in health care. Ann Intern Med. 2026;179:556-558. [PMID: 41662714] doi: 10.7326/ANNALS-25-03852
From article: "Language has myriad implications for health care as well as for ethics and professionalism. First, the current use of provider in reference to institutions, insurers, physicians, nurses, physician assistants, and other clinicians lumps impersonal entities in with humans and obscures differences in clinical training and expertise. For patients, who need to be aware of the important and different roles of health care team members, such distinctions may not be transparent."
- Nasrallah HA. We are physicians, not providers, and we treat patients, not clients! Curr Psychiatr. 2020;19(2):5–7. 29.
- Scarff JR. What's in a Name? The Problematic Term "Provider". Fed Pract. 2021 Oct;38(10):446-448. doi: 10.12788/fp.0188. PMID: 34733063; PMCID: PMC8560107.
From the article - origin of the word:
"all Jewish physicians were redesignated as Behandler (provider) instead of Arzt (doctor.) This is the first documented demeaning of physicians as providers in modern history. Jewish doctors were soon restricted to treating only Jewish patients and were further persecuted during the Holocaust."
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Preeti R. John MD, MPH, FACS, FCCM, HEC-C
Surgeon, Intensivist, Certified Healthcare Ethics Consultant,
Veterans Affairs Maryland Health Care System,
Clinical Associate Professor, Dept. of Surgery,
University of Maryland School of Medicine,
Baltimore, MD
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