Where Have All the Doctors Gone?

In an article in the NYT yesterday Dr. Paula Chin Continues to raise concern about the increasing lack of access to primary care doctors. The AMA continues to stick its head in the sand only saying that more scholarships are needed. There will be no change in access until policy makers require accrediting bodies for medical schools to focus on the epidemiology of primary care, and insist that medical schools ensure that all new doctors are capable of treating and preventing the common conditions seem in the community. Then the accrediting bodies for residency programs must place a premium on residencies in primary care, ensuring that enough graduates are competent in team practice so they to provide appropriate care. At the same time the federal funders that support medical education must place more resources into primary care and preventive medicine training. Finally. the insurers who pay for care must reward the care given by primary care physicians an focus on the value of counseling and prevention rather than technical procedures. . Without these changes no new program will make a difference. We only have to look at the problems in Massachusetts which has mandated universal access for its population but cannot deliver because it trains its physicians as specialists.