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The serious shortage of primary care doctors in America will get much worse unless the country reforms its graduate medical education system, researchers from the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) reported in Academic Medicine. Less than 25% of newly qualified doctors go into primary care, and just 4.8% move into rural areas, the authors added. This serious problem will only get worse unless some fundamental changes are introduced. … The American GME (graduate medical education system) depends on public funding. It receives almost $10 billion from the Medicare program, plus $3 billion from Medicaid....

Obamacare is set to provide some 16 million people with health insurance through Medicaid or the new exchanges next year. Unfortunately, their policies may not be worth much — as they may not be able to actually get care. America is suffering from a doctor shortage. An influx of millions of new patients into the healthcare system will only exacerbate that shortage — driving up the demand for care without doing anything about its supply. Those who get their coverage through Medicaid or the exchanges may feel the effects of the shortage even more acutely, as many providers are opting...

The glow of the personal relationship with patients is being extinguished A fundamental principle in medicine is that if you get the diagnosis wrong, you'll probably apply the wrong therapy. A corollary is that if the therapy isn't working, increasing the dose may make things worse. That's where we are with ObamaCare. There are shortcomings aplenty in the health-care field, and changes and improvements are required. But never have I seen so many good intentions leading irreversibly to hell. Personal experience is by its nature parochial. Yet when it invalidates much of what passes for wisdom, there may be value...

If it feels like you’re spending more time in the waiting room of your doctor’s office these days, it’s not your imagination. Family doctors are busier than ever. For many people, it is becoming difficult to even find a doctor, say experts who blame Obamacare for accelerating the nation’s doctor shortage. … What’s driving the trend, health experts say, is the nation’s growing population of older Americans using more healthcare resources. At the same time, as many as 1 in 3 practicing physicians are nearing retirement age. What’s more, the addition of some 30 million patients newly covered by insurance—as...

Dear Patient, Going into the coming year, I have made a difficult but necessary determination that I will no longer be a Medicare provider. This will go into effect as of January 1, 2013. My decision is directly related to the continuing Medicare cuts and cumbersome requirements that Medicare has put into place. Regretfully, it is no longer feasible for us to participate with Medicare.

Just in case the unaffordable price tag and rising costs don't quite do the trick, America's spiraling dearth of doctors will contribute heavily to the collapse of our re-engineered health care system, according to a new study:   The United States will require at least 52,000 more family doctors in the year 2025 to keep up with the growing and increasingly older U.S. population, a new study found. The predictions also reflect the passage of the Affordable Care Act -- a change that will expand health insurance coverage to an additional 38 million Americans. "The health care consumer that values...

The Supreme Court has spoken, the president has spoken, and Congress has spoken. Now it is time for the American people to speak. In four months, Americans will have a choice. We can choose to elect a vision that is true to what America is -- a country where freedom is cherished, hard work is rewarded, and handouts are adverse to our very nature. Or we can re-elect a vision very much at odds with this foundation, a vision whose fruits are destroying America at its very core. The latter vision produced Obamacare, a piece of legislation that amounts to...

The Doctor Patient Medical Association Foundation conducted a faxed survey of random doctors in May 2012. In the survey, it is clearly delineated that the medical system as it is changing is discouraging doctors from practicing. 83% of the doctors said that current changes made them think about quitting, and 90% of them thought the path of the medical field currently was wrong. They apparently feel that their Hippocratic oaths are being compromised; 61% of them feel that Hippocratic ethics are getting more difficult to practice, which is troubling, since one of the cardinal parts of the oath is the...

From today's Boston Globe (via Newsalert): "More Doctors Gravitate Toward Boutique Practice": "Concierge medicine is expanding as more doctors — and patients — tire of assembly-line primary care, opting for something more personal, and pricey. Concierge doctors care for a small number of patients who agree to pay an annual fee on top of insurance — $1,500 to $1,800 — in return for fast, unlimited access to the physician and to extra services like a comprehensive wellness plan. Patients also enjoy more leisurely appointments than the 15-minute visits that are now standard for most primary care doctors. The numbers...

Let me ask some key questions: ● Would you give up major parts of your childhood and youth to intensive study? ● Would you spend one-third of your life in school and training? ● Would you saddle yourself with hundreds of thousands of dollars of school-loan debt? ● Would you go through four, five, or more years of postgraduate training, with sleep deprivation, job stress, and military-style discipline, as well as unpleasant sights, sounds, and smells? ● Would you do all this, only to end up a virtual servant, following unrealistic, confusing, and often contradictory directives from non-medical government bureaucrats?...

Surgeons, cardiologists and psychiatrists often take center stage in the medical field. But a new program at Texas Tech's Health Sciences Center is all about family doctors. The university unveiled Tuesday a three-year medical degree to help address a shortage of primary care physicians in West Texas and across the nation. The new program will allow medical students to complete their degree in three years, rather than the typical four. They'll also receive a $13,000 scholarship to cover tuition and fees during their first year, Tech Chancellor Kent Hance said. "They get a scholarship in the first year, and don't...

TWO-thirds of doctors "oppose the proposed health-care plan," reports an Investors Busi ness Daily/TIPP poll. Almost half would "consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement" if "Congress passes its health-care plan." Many of my colleagues feel like we're already struggling -- nor are we prepared to take care of tens of millions more patients. An Association of American Medical Colleges survey predicts a doctor shortage of 150,000 (at current rates of population growth) by 2025 if universal health insurance is adopted. The doctors we do have would be overwhelmed with far more patients than we could realistically take...

Health Reform: A Senate health care bill will force Americans to buy health insurance whether they want it or not. Where the extra doctors to treat them will come from is anybody's guess.When even the venerable Helen Thomas gets upset at an Obama show and tell, you know the sales job for health care reform and other goodies is not going well. "I'm amazed at you people who call for openness and transparency," said Thomas, a view we share. Thomas accused the White House of "controlling the press" and said just about all Obama events are "prepackaged." White House press...

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...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Primary care -- the basic medical care that people get when they visit their doctors for routine physicals and minor problems -- could fall apart in the United States without immediate reforms, the American College of Physicians said on Monday. "Primary care is on the verge of collapse," said the organization, a professional group which certifies internists, in a statement. "Very few young physicians are going into primary care and those already in practice are under such stress that they are looking for an exit strategy." Dropping incomes coupled with difficulties in juggling patients, soaring bills and...