Mass Medical Society has released this year’s Physician Workforce Survey.  The number of primary care practices accepting new patients has dropped from 58 to 44 percent.  The practice climate for primary care is getting more difficult every year, with the flood of paperwork coming from the insurance companies, the advent of “tiering“, and primary care reimbursement dropping every year while specialty incomes rise.  Most physicians completing residency programs and looking for careers in general medicine are sensibly choosing hospital medicine, where salaries are higher and the hours better.

I am a Democrat.  I supported Barak Obama in his campaign.  I think he’s a good president.  From a citizen standpoint, I think his healthcare plan, if passed, will probably improve health care quality and access at least modestly.  But from a primary care standpoint, I’m disappointed.  None of the various drafts and proposals I’ve seen do a thing to address the crisis in primary care.

If we keep paying enormous sums for invasive procedures, and next to nothing for doctors to listen, think and communicate with patients, then we’ll continue to have an expensive, fragmented, procedure-based healthcare system rather than a humane and rational one focused on patient needs.