Should primary care distance themselves from specialists?

I wrote a few days ago that a civil war is brewing between primary care and specialists.

Robert Centor fans the flames, saying “excuse me while I take time to cry for this orthopedic surgeon. I am really not interested in how much you get for one procedure, rather look at total income.”

Should we escalate the tensions between the two sides?

With a marked disparity in salary, specialists are the albatross preventing primary care physicians from winning the public relations battle with patients and politicians. They are showing little interest in making any concessions, and are yielding little of their influence over major decisions in the AMA and the RUC.

It is difficult to have any sympathy for generalists’ plight when the average salaries of dermatologists and radiologists are repeatedly quoted in the media.

Distancing ourselves from our specialist colleagues may be the key strategic move to save primary care.

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