This is a fair question that is commonly asked and, on its face, makes perfect sense: more doctors seeing fewer patients = physician shortage. It is my opinion that the direct medical practices will not only avoid a worsening physician crisis, but drastically increase access to and affordability of health care.
- Retention of older physicians who no longer wish to participate in the hamster wheel of high volume practices.
- Recruitment of medical students into primary care when they realize the potential for optimal job satisfaction, reimbursement and work load.
- Reduction in the need for physicians if the trend towards decreased hospitalization by even a small margin.
