Re: America's Primary Care About to Collapse


Igor The Terrible wrote:
> I have been harping on this for a while.... Did anyone listen? No.
> Guess what? It couldn't have timed out better...right at the time when
> boomers are getting ready to retire. Another thing, don't expect money
> to buy you out of this one; it's a little late to be thinking about
> that. This is one (of many) fucked up situation that has festered for
> years because nobody felt like doing anything about it. Not to
> worry...the exceedingly brilliant, Yale alumni-Skull and Bones George
> Dubya Bush will save the day...he will have our health care system
> running like a well-oiled machine before you know it, right? In the
> meantime, enjoy your future physicals....in Jamaica, Mexico, Denmark,
> Canada, Germany, etc.... Or maybe you will actually get that
> just-in-time e-mail reply from a first year med student advising you of
> your quadruple bypass options.
>


Yeah, but we are doing everything in the Moral Capitalistic Way(TM).
Sure many people
will get screwed over, and even die, but at least we didn't allow too
many of those
evil Socalist programs to infest our health care. Now I gotta go now, I
have to
beat my chest, watch football, go to the Repub rally, and yell "***" at
someone out my car
window. Cheers!
> This country sure does a fine, outstanding job in managing its
> priorities, eh? ...BTW, anyone know what is on American Idol or ESPN
> tonite???
>
>
> Igor sez.......I told ya so!!!
>
>
> +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++
>
>
> Primary care about to collapse, physicians warn
> Group proposes solutions for changing reimbursement policies for
> doctors
>
>
> Updated: 3:14 p.m. ET Jan. 30, 2006
> WASHINGTON - Primary care - the basic medical care that people get
> when they visit their doctors for routine physicals and minor problems
> - could fall apart in the United States without immediate reforms,
> the American College of Physicians said Monday.
>
> "Primary care is on the verge of collapse," said the organization, a
> professional group which certifies internists, in a statement. "Very
> few young physicians are going into primary care and those already in
> practice are under such stress that they are looking for an exit
> strategy."
>
> Dropping incomes coupled with difficulties in juggling patients,
> soaring bills and policies from insurers that encourage rushed office
> visits all mean that more primary care doctors are retiring than are
> graduating from medical school, the ACP said in its report.
>
> The group has proposed a solution - calling on federal policymakers
> to approve new ways of paying doctors that would put primary care
> doctors in charge of organizing a patient's care and giving patients
> more responsibility for monitoring their own health and scheduling
> regular visits.
>
> U.S. doctors have long complained that reimbursement policies of both
> Medicare and private insurers reward a "just-in-time" approach, instead
> of preventive care that would save money and keep patients healthier.
>
> "Medicare will pay tens of thousands of dollars ... for a limb
> amputation on a diabetic patient, but virtually nothing to the primary
> care physician for keeping the patient's diabetes under control," said
> Bob Doherty, senior vice president for the ACP.
>
> The ACP plan called for innovations such as using e-mail to consult on
> minor and routine matters, freeing up expensive office visit time for
> when it is needed. Doctors would be compensated for an e-mail
> consultation.
>
> The proposals include incentives for doctors to work more efficiently
> and to provide better care, ACP President Dr. C. Anderson Hedberg told
> a news conference. "ACP proposals would provide patients with access to
> care that is coordinated by their own personal physician," Hedberg
> said.
>
> Young doctors avoiding primary care
> The ACP cited an American Medical Association survey that found 35
> percent of all physicians nationwide are over the age of 55 and will
> soon retire.
>
> In 2003, only 27 percent of third year internal medicine residents
> actually planned to practice internal medicine, the group said, with
> others planning to go into more lucrative specialty jobs.
>
> "Primary care physicians - the bedrock of medical care for today and
> the future - are at the bottom of the list of all medical specialties
> in median income compensation," the ACP said.
>
> The group, which represents 119,000 doctors and medical students in
> general internal medicine and subspecialties, joins others that warn
> the U.S. health care system is untenable.
>
> "If these reforms do not take place, within a few years there will not
> be enough primary care physicians to take care of an aging population
> with increasing incidences of chronic diseases," said Dr. Vineet Arora,
> chair of the College's Council of Associates.
>
> Dr. Sara Walker, a Missouri physician, said she believed doctors were
> leaving general practice because of drops in Medicare reimbursement to
> doctors.
>
> "A drop in Medicare payments will not only force me to stop taking
> Medicare patients but could force me out of business," agreed Dr. Kevin
> Lutz, a solo practitioner in Denver.

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