Everyone in health care is feeling the pinch of the recession, including primary care physicians. Some are opting to charge patients annual fees to provide personal services.
For example, they’re reducing patient loads and charging remaining patients $2,000 a year for services like annual physicals, 24/7 access by phone and e-mail, same-day and next-day appointments, and a CD containing personal medical records.
As more medical students are choosing to go into specialties, the pressure on primary care physicians will increase, and a shortage seems inevitable. According to the National Resident Matching Program, only a third of graduating medical students choose primary care, a number that’s dropped over the years. (Source)
MedPAC proposed to reverse the coming shortage by increasing Medicare payments to primary care physicians and reducing payments to specialists.
The Baltimore Sun published a story about medical students choosing to specialize rather than going into primary care. Facing debt and a recession, these students are opting for higher salaries specialties offer. Universal health care probably will accelerate the trend. University of Maryland medical student Ryan Circh said, “The more I’m in the field, the more I’m starting to realize, they want to add 45 million uninsured to the rolls, but how do you treat 45 million more with no more people? Who’s going to treat them if no one’s going into family medicine in the first place?”
The irony is that primary care doctors likely would end up with a heavier patient load if the president’s health care plan becomes law. With a focus on preventative medicine in health care reform, primary care doctors are on the front line.
