One thing my wife and I have noted as a (temporary) “benefit” of Obamacare.
The doctors we visit are far less busy in the last year or so.
Both the specialists and our GP docs.
It’s obvious the ginormous deductibles in the latest policies have cut doctor visits significantly.
Division of labour makes sense in almost every business or profession. If a task can be done by a PA, why pay (a lot) more to have it done by a MD? Obamacare or not — if the same services can be delivered for less cost, then make the change.
I think PAs and NPs have an important role, but not as a substitute for a doctor when one is needed.
On the same hand, I wonder what’s going on with malpractice insurance rates since Obamacare has kicked in?
If I’m going to a doctor’s office/clinic, it’s because I need to see a doctor, not a physician’s assistant. No thanks on a PA.
The problem that was supposed to be solved was: "Many people don't have access to healthcare."
Did Obama do something to build more clinics? More hospitals? More Med Schools? Did he do something to create more GPs? More Specialists?
Nope.
Instead, he gave a lot of people a piece of paper which says: "I have insurance."
Problem solved!
And out in the real world the only thing the industry can do is to shove a lot of PAs out on the front lines.
As a long term medical person and as a nurse, PAs scare me. Don’t get me wrong, some are good, but some of the PAs I have met only think that they know what they are doing. Most should not be writing script. A NP is far more knowledgeable about medications and patient care.
One PA that I have encountered twice doesn’t have a clue about drug interactions. At some point in the near future he is going to kill someone. One of the times he not only wrote script for a pt that was going to cause a drug-drug interaction, he gave the pt a 30 days of samples of the drug thereby preventing a pharmacists from double checking his work. The patient’s family did check with a pharmacist before allowing the pt to take the samples, most likely saving that patients life.
IMHO at minimum, PAs should not be allowed to give out samples, unless the patient is already taking that medication.
Use as many doctors or specialist as you want, but use one pharmacist/pharmacy. They should know every medication that you take, including over the counter medications as well as vitamins and supplements.
later
in 1996 i called my MD’s office to get an appointment for a pain in my hip, and the dr was not in but the PA was, so i saw the PA had an xray done and i had broken my hyip, the PA saw the crack in the hip and sent me to an ortho right away. PA’s and NP’s are needed to take up the slack for the DR,
I can’t wait to see who Ø will have designing bridges, and practicing law in his fundamentally transformed Caliphate.
I’ve been in continuous practice as a PA for 39 years - I was one of the “experimental” models. I’ve worked in a variety of clinical and hospital settings. I’ve encountered good and bad PA’s, MD’s, DO’s, RN’s and NP’s just like in any group of professional people.
My greatest concern is that in the rush to educate more medical providers of all types the curriculums are being dumbed down in a politically correct, affirmative action manner to get people through the various programs and out into the market.
I attended a PA program from 1973-75 and it was a difficult, uncompromising course of studies and clinical rotations. Now, not so much. The first two recertification exams I took were extremely difficult. In the mid-80’s they became much easier and it wasn’t because I was getting any smarter.
There are still a lot of good providers out there but there seem to be more talent-challenged “technicians” than there were back in the “old days”.