Do patients think there's a primary care shortage?

Apparently not, according to this unscientific poll (via Dr. Rob):

I asked 22 people today why there is a problem with healthcare in the U.S. I got umpteen dozen answers, with the most popular being “insurance is too expensive”. Not one person mentioned there was a shortage of PCP’s. Not one person knew that PCP’s were reimbursed at a much lower rate than specialists, and not one person realized PCP’s didn’t make “big money”.

It’s true that a majority of patients don’t read medical blogs like mine, where I routinely write about the primary care shortage.

However, blogs influence the health coverage at major newspapers, some of which have written about the topic and how it will hamstring universal coverage. That’s important, because patients influence policy makers, not physicians.

I encourage everyone to keep blogging about what really ails our health care system. Mainstream media routinely look to medical blogs for what’s hot in health care, and we can use them to amplify our message.

The onus is on us to convince patients that more primary care access will be in everyone’s best interest.

topics: primary care, media

Comments

WhiteCoat
You are right on point about blogging on our healthcare system woes.
The bigger the group, the louder the message.
Eventually someone will listen. Hopefully it will be before the system comes crashing down around us.
Anonymous
How about just telling the patients that you rush: ” I can see that you are frustrated that I rushed through this appointment and I could not answer all your questions, but unfortunately the insurance company only pays me xxx for this. I am really frustrated about this as well, but the only way out of this is to drop Medicare.”
I had no clue that my doctors were paid that little before I started reading blogs.
Donna
I wouldn’t know about the problem if I didn’t read your blog. I was telling my husband and sister-in-law at breakfast this morning about some of the problems I’ve learned about right here.
So I called to make my husband’s usual every-three-months appointment and found out his primary care doc is off, on medical leave. He had a brain tumor, had surgery, and is recuperating. His long-time partner is scheduled about a month ahead all the time. So I guess we’ll see the new young guy now. I hope he lasts!
NancyB
I think, at least in the population we serve, that people do not understand the insurance (primarily Medicare and Medicare Advantage) system of reimbursement. Premiums for Advantage Plans are considered high and most wonder why straight Medicare isn’t covering everything.
In Maryland we have had a rash of physicians groups switching to the VIP, concierge medicine. I understand the need but as a consumer, and for our target audience, this is not only too costly for most, but not understood. And the fact that physicians have to resort to this, is frankly very sad.
The Happy Hospitalist
White Coat. The system IS crashing down around us. The Medicare Hospital Trust Fund will be insolvent in 10 years. It has ALREADY gone cash flow negative. We are not looking to avert a crisis. We are already in it.
The time to act is Now. Now. Now.
We Are All Screwed
DR. MARY JOHNSON
Dr. “Dime A Dozen” here. Kevin, in principle, I agree with you.
But in terms of the MSM taking any cues from blogs regarding the sad/sorry state of medicine (particularly primary care medicine), I don’t share your optimism.
Here’s why: I have been in the blogosphere since 2005 (at the invitation of a “journalist” no less) . . . and pounding out my story (over and over again – in short versions and long versions – trying to find that elusive “hook”) on my own blog since 2006. And the “mainstream” journalists in North Carolina (as well as a number of local big-gun bloggers) have done everything they could to marginalize me.
You see, my politics (shaped in large part by my experience as a public servant in North Carolina – a “red state” whose capital has been “blue” for years) does not match theirs. I don’t worship at the same altar.
In terms of raising public awareness, mine is a story that should have been on “60 Minutes” or even “Oprah” (before that “libel” lawsuit scared her away from everything but fluff and Obama) long ago.
If anything, the results of this election have made me angry enough to keep pounding out that story – and keep speaking truth to power – and embarrassing those who say one thing yet do another.
Maybe those now in power will eventually give the plight of doctors more than the lip service they do now (to placate the largely-ignorant masses).
Anonymous
Most people could care less about whether there is a primary care or physician shortage. They would go see a chimpanzee with a white coat on, as long as it was free or cheap! Look at all the pseudo-medical providers (herbalists, chiros, touch therapists, etc.) that people now go see instead of their primary care MD!
Chuck Brooks
Insurance long ago became an entitlement and not a spread risk, and the disconnect between the patient as a paying customer and doctor as a trusted advisor is now permanent. There’s information in prices; with no prices (e.g., ‘free’) then there’s no information with which the patient/customer can act on, even if they wanted to. In any event. the health system is far too gone for this to be fixed: There are too many who profit from the way it is now.
Chuck Brooks
FutureWare SCG
Robin
If doctors want to do anything, get out a message, or reform/change/redo/”whatever” healthcare, they need to include/involve the patient. Everyone is a patient. And there are still plenty of us who pay for our insurance, pay out-of-pocket if necessary for better/best treatment, and would be active voices if rallied with pertinent and timely information.
Just tonight, while doing a blogtalkradio show, the guest (another Cushing’s survivor) said she had no clue about the PCP shortage until she read my post (linked in Kevin’s post above). We are a large group of folks who travel to see specialists who understand our disease, paying out-of-pocket for the expertise. We care. WE WANT GOOD PCP’S!! Most of us depend on our PCP’s to work with our specialists, and in fact, to actually do the first line of testing to figure out if we need to see one. We depend on them for the myriad of other problems that come with the disease and cure. PCP’s are invaluable to us. We want and need them.
Chuck, there is always information and there is always something which can be done.
Whitecoat, I think you are hiding your head in the sand. Blogging will get some to listen, maybe. But will it get the right folks to listen? You need a powerful voice, and patients can be that if rallied. Numbers talk in D.C., still. It’s kinda like the squeaky wheel. The louder and bigger, the better. I can squeak.
Dr. Mary Johnson, I share your views about the MSM for the most part. But doctors will be labeled “whiners” unless cognizant, viable patient groups are involved.
Happy, amen.

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