Charlie Baker: “If 70% of all physicians are specialists and only 30% are in primary care “” and some 40% of what goes on in an ER belongs in the office a primary care provider, something’s wrong.”
Some of the major players are learning that buffing up the country’s primary care physician numbers can go a long way to solving many of our health care delivery problems.
Hopefully politicians will get this soon as well. The public debate continues to focus on the uninsured – simply because this an easy, politically friendly narrative.
If we can shift attention to the lack of primary care physicians, it will be easier for politicians to act on this significantly more pressing need.
Related posts:
- Let’s focus on the primary care shortage
- ED overcrowding by the insured
- Emergency department overcrowding
- Look at what a focus on primary care will get you
- Today’s "Long ER Wait" article
- Can universal health coverage be sustained long-term?
- New York joins the folly of cutting Medicaid payments
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Important point, important issue, but let’s not think of this as purely a political issue. If insurance companies pay primary care doctors better, that will help strengthen the ranks of primary care docs and improve our ability to deliver more primary care services. They can also make our work less hassle-filled. Silly example: I can’t get an urgent CT scan without prior authorization, while the ER can.
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