Posted on 12/02/2008 9:32:16 PM PST by george76
Lack of primary care physicians boosting health costs, hassles.
There were days last fall when Gabrielle McGrew felt she must be the most popular physician in Oregon – and she hadn’t even begun practicing.
McGrew is one of only three graduating residents who are choosing to practice primary care medicine, and the only one in Portland. Most of the other 31 internal medicine residents are taking fellowships that likely will lead to careers as specialists.
the long-term implications of the growing shortage of primary care doctors could be a disaster, experts say, given the steadily growing number of senior citizens ...
Those waits already are long for many Portland patients, especially those with Medicare or Medicaid health insurance. Those providers don’t reimburse physicians at as high a rate as most private insurers.
About 45 percent of all Oregon physicians won’t even take new Medicare patients... With a glut of patients and a lack of internists, McMullan says, they have begun rejecting the patients whose insurance won’t reimburse them as well.
And it’s getting worse. McMullan says that a few weeks ago a BlueCross member in Salem, fully insured, could not find a primary care physician willing to see her. BlueCross staff said they’d help, but found the task insurmountable.
(Excerpt) Read more at portlandtribune.com ...
Oh, and for your info, as an employer, the majority of “sick notes” I see from employees come from walk in clinic or ER docs because employees can’t get in to see their regular docs for notes.
They also charge more for those notes. :o)
Re third world doctors......they aready have brought them in. My mother ended up in the hospital last year and most of the doctors were from other countries - India and who knows where else - some looked Arab.
Sounds like you should move to Oregon ;)
Thanks, Doc. :-)
Better get used to it. We just don’t graduate enough docs to meet our needs. Far, far from it.
I just which they would teach them to say “Hello everybody” when they walk through the waiting rooms.
Survey: 60% Of Primary Care Physicians Would Choose Another Field
Thanks
It it will continue to get worse when the people considering becoming doctors figure out they will be working harder for less money than people before them.
NCLB attendance rules have forced schools into insisting on doctor visits to excuse absences as well. I'd guess we'll be hearing more about pediatrician shortages next. They have to be in the same boat as primary care.
I’ve always thought, if I were a Doctor, I’d be a cash only doctor. No insurance accepted, and keep my rates lower.
The doctor is a $20 co-pay, but a clinic is $50 and ER is $100. All for someone who doesn't necessarily need medical care, just a written excuse saying, "Yeah, this person saw me and is sick."
It's a silly waste of time, money and resources in most cases.
I feel bad for my neighbor's daughter. She's doing a residency (I think), finally certified enough to be paid for a few ER shifts. She's got a couple more years of training yet and a mountain of debt.
She won't be able to walk away but will have to do as she's told.
Not quite true. Any accredited school which wants to create more residencies can do so. It's just that those new slots will not be subsidized via the Medicare program.
Important to remember that "failure to support with tax dollars" < > "forced out of existence".
The problem with that business plan is that you'll never be able to make a living at an all-cash fee anywhere near the $10 or $15 co-pay patients are used to paying.
They will do what the NHS in the UK did and is doing: import third-world, third-rate dunderheads who got their medical degrees out of a couscous box. You’ll need a translator just to understand them.
Unrestricted lawsuits will bankrupt the USA. There will be fewer and fewer students going into medicine if they actually have to defend themselves against malpractice. I lived in Britain. One advantage that the Brits have is that they are stoic. It is perceived as a weakness if actually you go to the Doctor. Americans go to the Doctor at the drop of a hat. Socialized medicine will not work here. Just look at the experiment in Hawaii.
Sad, isn’t it? This is what semi-socialized medicine has brought us to. Once we go fully socialized...it will be the last nail in the healthcare coffin....
My Dermatologist actually does that. We pay him cash and deal with the insurance on our own. He’s a crusty, older guy, and doesn’t care for all the b.s. associated with insurance.
If we miss more than 4 days in a 6 month period, we get written up and a warning. Even if our 4 days is at one time for the flu or bronchitis or something like that.
Health care workers come to work sneezing, coughing, all over the place so they won't get written up. Just grand for the patient trying to get better from one thing and catching something else because of the suits at the hospital who do all they can to avoid getting near the patient care areas and not have to be forced to see the working conditions.
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