Close, but wrong. Doctors will be replaced with lower level “ Health Care Providers”, ie Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners. That’s the real plan.
>>>Close, but wrong. Doctors will be replaced with lower level “ Health Care Providers”, ie Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners. That’s the real plan.<<<<
This is the plan, gets the Dr out of the decision making process and allows more streamlined management of costs and provided services. It is flow-chart medicine, and it really sux.
“Close, but wrong. Doctors will be replaced with lower level “ Health Care Providers”, ie Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners. That’s the real plan”
I’ll add that at some point requirements will be lowered for Doctors so we can import 3rd world candidates whom would love to make $50,000 a year for a 70 hour work week.
We are seeing more pop up clinics at drug stores to treat high BP or diabetes and minor stuff like school physicals. Also lots of Minor Meds. I see problems with this as they are using your SS# as ID, and there becomes an issue of possible ID theft.
Our doctor shoves us off on his PA more often than he sees us. I don’t mind the PA as long as all you need are refills of meds that are good for only 6 months. And it always involves blood work ups.
“Close, but wrong. Doctors will be replaced with lower level “ Health Care Providers”, ie Physician Assistants and Nurse Practitioners. That’s the real plan.”
I would agree that this is the plan, but it will cause a big problem in the short term, that is the next 4-7 years. PAs and NPs can replace primary care doctors to some extent, but they cannot replace specialists, such as neurosurgeons, cardiologists, oncologists, orthopedics etc. etc. This is where the big advances in survival rates have been made. Even with regards to the training of NPs and PAs, it still takes 4 years of undergrad and 1-2 years of advanced training to become credentialed and qualified to practice.
Retirements for physicians (thoses in their late fifties and their 60s) will come soon and over a time frame much shorter than the time required for training NPs, PAs, and expediting foreign medical grads. Physicians in their 50s and 40s will downsize and modify their practices by dropping negative margin government payers. The younger physicians in their 40s and below will likely be in hospital owned practices and their productivity will be commensurate with their continually eroding salaries.
The tipping point is coming soon for Medicare patients and their Medicare cards, and it could resemble a currency collapse.