It already is in some cases. Fields like internal medicine (which I trained in) do not reimburse much. When I was a resident the best and the brightest competed for internal medicine residencies. Now it is difficult to fill programs, and many of the residents went to medical school out of the country. Those that are the best of the bunch use internal medicine as a stepping stone to the medical subspecialties, where they can make a better living. This is greatly impacting the care of patients.
Along with this, there is a growing trend of internists joining hospital only practice. I did this several years ago because the amount of work and the low compensation was not worth the time spent away from my family. I don’t make anymore now, but at least my days off are really off - no phone calls, lab results, prescription refills, etc to be dealt with. A large number of the people in my hospitalist group have left primary care for similar reasons.
It is difficult or impossible to find a primary care physician in some parts of the country, particularly one who is accepting medicare. This will only worsen, and the quality of the physicians going into primary care is diminishing rapidly. And if you think primary care is not as important as subspecialists, who is going to manage your blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, etc. And who is going to listen to you and pick up the murmur of that defective heart valve that needs to be replaced before the damage to your heart is irreparable.? And when you have chest pain, would you like your physician to be skilled in diagnosing blood clot versus heart attack vs heartburn? Who determines when you need to see a specialist? usually the primary care physician.
Obama’s plan will drive medical care in this country to rival care in other 3rd world countries. Good luck!
/rant off
Excellent rant.
Unfortunately in Californicator, many of the conservative mds have retired or will be retiring. The liberal, “et tu Brutus MDs” will help 0b0z0 get his 0b0z0 care in.
I am not in the medical field but I am VERY concerned about primary care! I am old enough to remember the old fashioned family doctors who made house calls. My mother was a nurse working in a nursing home most of her career but she started out working for one of those old primary care doctors. There are very few good general practitioners left in this area now and the situation is getting worse daily.