You Can Have Your Insurance, I’d Rather Have Care
Mar 28th, 2010 by wintercow20
In my former home state of the People’s Republic of Massachusetts, now over 50% of internists and 40% of family/general practitioners are not accepting new patients. And of course, Nurse Practitioners and Physicians Assistants are not permitted to open their own practices, nor are retail clinics exactly encouraged.
You know how I plan to get care in a few years? My wife. She’s going to school for training. Or will they not allow her to take care of our family because she does not yet have an MD?
theunbrokenwindow.com
Worried about a shortage of doctors? Take a look at Massachusetts
There is a great deal of speculation about what the addition of 30 million insured persons will do to our current health care system.
Perhaps one issue that has not been clearly addressed is whether or not we currently have enough doctors to take care of all these additional people.
What happened in Massachusetts is a clue
Massachusetts passed its own version of universal health care in 2006. At the time this law was enacted, more than 600,000 people in that state were uninsured. Four years later Massachusetts reports that 400,000 residents have been added to the health insurance rolls.
Aside from the fact that there are significant budget problems which stem from this increase, another problem has surfaced. Last September the Massachusetts Medical Society published the Physician Workforce Study.
The 8 year study concluded that there were severe shortages of doctors in Massachusetts in 7 of the 18 clinical areas studied. Three of those fall into the category of primary care physicians: family practice, OB/GYN and internal medicine.
Primary care practices are not accepting new patients
The study found that the number of family care practices that were closed to new patients was the highest it has ever been since the Medical Society began keeping records.
For the 4th consecutive year, specialties of internal medicine and family practice were in short supply. OB’GYN practices were also in short supply. Because many women, especially younger women, use their OB/GYN as a primary care physician, the problem in this area is exacerbated.
The Workforce Study showed that 40% of family medicine physicians are no longer accepting new patients, up from 30% before reform. An additional 56% of internal medicine physicians are no longer accepting new patients, up from 31% before reform
Patients wait longer for appointments
The study found that this decline in the number of doctors who can accept new patients translates to longer wait times for an appointment with doctors who are accepting new patients. The average wait time for an appointment with these doctors is 44 days.
Community hospitals reported that they were having more difficulty recruiting and retaining physicians especially those who were in the primary care specialties.
Fear of lawsuits continues to have a chilling effect
A substantial concern for new doctors looking to establish a primary care practice is the fear of being sued. Malpractice insurance rates on top of enormous student loans make it almost impossible for new doctors to consider the lower paying specialties included under the primary care umbrella.
wwww.examiner.com |
