The author is a medical professor who also is an administrator and has been a primary care physician.

In short order, he has summed up why we have a crisis in primary care.

He has the prescription.

Now we have to figure out how to get the right people to swallow it—the right people being politicians and insurers, to name only two.

DB’s Medrants

…”Primary care is a wonderful noble calling.  I did primary care for 20 years.  The job deteriorated over time.

“The patient centered medical home is a bold attempt at reinventing the job.  Retainer medicine is a successful attempt at reinventing the job.  Cash only practices are another successful option. (Emphasis added)

“Until we (society) willingly pay our valuable front line physicians a fair wage, without excessive administrative hassles, we will have too few good primary care physicians.

“The problem is one of value.  We who have done primary care and work with excellent primary care physicians understand their value.  I do not think the insurers understand.  I am sure that the politicians do not understand. (Emphasis added)

“They do not understand the complexity of the job.  They do not understand the value proposition, that is how greatly excellent primary care physicians improve health at lower cost. They think that non-physicians can do the job because they have no respect for primary care. (Emphasis added)

“We must do everything we can to fix the job.  If we fix the job, we will have full residencies, and hospitalists leaving their jobs to come back to primary care.  To paraphrase James Carville, “it’s the job, stupid”.”

Source: DB’s Medrants, January 28, 2010