This can be worrisome considering that, in the United States, only 32% of doctors are providers of this type of care and that almost 25% of these doctors are over 56 years old, so it is likely that during the next decade many of them retire RCM Outsourcing.
Why this lack of interest in primary care medicine?
According to a survey, more than half of primary care physicians, 54%, feel they are not sufficiently compensated.
A primary care physician can spend up to 45 minutes consulting a patient, compared to an orthopedic surgeon who may spend only 10 minutes, however, according to the Merritt Hawkins & Associates consultancy, primary care physicians (physicians of family, pediatricians and psychiatrists) are offered the lowest salary of all doctors.
Why is it so important to change this?
It is important to recognize the importance of primary care medicine, as 80% of illnesses are resolved through it . If they did not exist, the other levels of care would obviously be saturated and their costs would rise, making them inaccessible for the majority of the population.
By 2030, at least in the United States, more than 75 million people will be older than 65, comprising almost a third of the population. In total, in the next 10 years, they will face a deficit of 91,000 doctors in the next, of which 45,000 practice primary care.
What does it mean to work as a primary care physician? What are its advantages?
In addition to the economic reasons already discussed, medical students have always been discouraged from pursuing a career in primary care for reasons of “professional standing.” It is important to change this perception among the medical community and among the general population.
Exercising this profession is not simple, it requires a great capacity for organization, as well as to coordinate the practice as well as the patients, in addition to having broad general knowledge and skills.
In addition, its advantages include:
- It means dealing with people directly and offering medical care in a very wide range.
- Choosing a specialty in a limited area would have meant giving up some other area of medicine.
- Primary care physicians have the advantage of combining theory and practice in diagnosis and treatment.
- They have the satisfaction of providing patients with more humane care, and developing better communication with patients and their families.
We must be aware of the benefits in health and in the economy that we will have as a society when redefining the concept of primary care medicine, in the long run there would be a better quality of care and a lower cost in health spending.