Robert Centor wonders if the same forces can help outpatient physicians.
The problem with that model is that only physicians can do hospitalist medicine.
That’s not true with primary care, as mid-levels are increasingly pick up the slack. Hospitals are likely going to hire more PAs and NPs, rather than paying physicians more.
Which is why it is important for patients to realize the value of having a primary care physician.
It will be the public who will have the final say. If they embrace the mid-level model of primary care, the days of physicians entering primary care are certainly over.
