actually,outpatient internal medicine is disappearing. A good internist is highly in demand and difficult to hire. In my last job I worked for a large multispecialty group, and we had to hire FP’s to fill internal medicine slots, as there were not any internists to interview, let alone hire. Statistics show of the graduates in internal medicine programs, about 2/3 go on to subspecialty training, and 1/3 become hospitalists. Do the math on how many are going into primary care.
In Florida where my parents live, a good portion of their friends have no primary care physician and have to get there care from urgent care clinics. Expect this to get worse.
When I said that medical schools were pushing primary care and discouraging specialty training, it seems that internal medicine was also considered "specializing" and what was being pushed was FP.
It was almost cult-like. Several years ago, I was asked to give a talk to a group of about 40 medical students that were touring our hospital about what being a private practice specialist was like. When I asked what "everybody wanted to be when they grew up", every one of them was going into FP. Every last one.
Now that OB has become too litigious to mess with and FP's are leaving inpatient care to hospitalists, many of the FP's have become glorified PA's. .... and are being paid accordingly.
In Florida where my parents live, a good portion of their friends have no primary care physician and have to get there care from urgent care clinics.
Heck, I don't have a primary care physician any more. My last two primary care physician quit their primary care practices (they were both in their mid-50's). I haven't bothered to get a new one. I guess it's time for me to order up some yearly blood work on myself.