Health care reform is the headline-maker these days, and I give my take in a couple of recent articles.
First, Congressional Quarterly wonders if there are enough primary care doctors for every patient newly insured under a universal coverage plan (a familiar take, I must say). Anyways, here’s my contribution to the piece:
The biggest problem is that primary care physicians are paid far less for their services than are specialists, although they might have the same amount of medical school debt to pay off. And lawmakers will be hard-pressed to fix that problem without setting off a lobbying war between physicians that could derail the overall plan.In the few minutes that a specialist might spend performing a medical procedure during an office visit, “that procedure will get paid five to eight times as much as I get paid to spend those 15 minutes talking to a patient about hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol,” said Kevin Pho, a primary care physician in Nashua, N.H., who writes a blog about his experiences.
Next, in WORLD Magazine, I reiterate the point, noting that improving primary care physician access needs to go hand in hand with universal coverage, which is an issue conspicuously lacking in the debate:
Many at the White House health-care summit touted developments in Massachusetts, where a universal coverage law began in 2006. But Kevin Pho, a primary care physician from southern New Hampshire who runs a medical blog, says the state’s health-care system has been bombarded with nearly half a million new patients: The wait time for a new patient to see a primary care doctor averaged 50 days, and those who can’t wait often resort to emergency room visits””one of the costliest forms of health care. “It’s a difficult pill to swallow,” reasons Pho. “Health insurance without health-care access is basically useless.”
Enjoy.
Related posts:
- Op-ed: Shortage of primary care threatens health care system
- Health reform ignores primary care doctors at its own peril
- Primary care incomes and universal health coverage
- Talking health care reform and social media in medicine
- The Obama health care summit, and did the President offer any clues to the upcoming health reform effort?
- Op-ed: More coverage requires more doctors
- ER visits and health care costs rise in Massachusetts due to lack of primary care access
{ 4 comments }
Excellent points. Hopefully someone listens!
i wish pcps would stop saying the thing about getting paid so little what they do and saying that the specialists get some much more.
I did a dnc today, so i saw her yesterday and did a preop that took 15 minutes, then i got to the or 15 minutes before the case because they will not take the patient back to the or without me being present, then i did the case, that took me 12 minutes, i timed it today, and then I went and spoke to the family. In 2 weeks I will see her back for a postop visit.
All of this is included in the surgery, which I get paid, with private insurance about 160 dollars. So that’s one 15 minute visit, one hour of or time, and then about 10 minute postop visit, that’s 6 visits for a pcp, who doesn’t have to drive around and can be much more efficient in the office. I hope you get more than $26 dollars a visit, because that’s what I made for this.
You failed to mention that PCPs have less training as well. There is really no comparision between a 2 year FP residency and a 4 year surgical residency. They didn’t come up with a 80 work week because FP residents were getting abused.
Health coverage does not = health care (I wish I could put a backwards slash through the = and leave out the “does not”). There is no country on the planet where universal health coverage universally guarantees timely, quality medical care.
Comments on this entry are closed.