MedPAC advises raising primary care pay
Posted by Wayne Guglielmo on May 5th, 2008. Filed under: physician shortage, primary care, medicare, pcps, reimbursement.
Everyone has heard about the looming shortages in primary care, especially in family medicine. At the root of the problem are the lower reimbursements PCPs receive, as compared to their specialist and surgical colleagues. Now, in order to make primary care more attractive, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Montana) has proposed boosting Medicare rates for PCPs. But some physicians see this as a robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul approach. To read why, see this provocative entry from American Medical News.
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I think that Mr Baucus’s proposal is putting doctors up against doctors. We should be uniting! We as physician are at a point in the history of medicine where we are no longer a respected profession. Our salaries are essentially determined by government/insurance. The way we practice medicine is also being dictated. The number of patients we are “required” to see in order to make a decent living is ridiculous. We have been sitting in our offices, fulfilling our obligation to our patients and allowing all this to happen to us without putting up a fight!
I agree with the suggestion that the primary MD should receive incentives through an INCREASE in funds rather that taking away from the general pot. However, what I truly believe, is that there should be a NEW reform in the medical system. Insurance premiums for patients keep increasing every year. Insurance company profits are increasing, yet physicians are making less. Does this sit well with the medical community?
Ancillary staff salaries are equal if not MORE than primary care physicians. Does this sit well with physicians? Others go on strike when they feel they are mistreated. What do physician do when they feel this way?
If nothing is done about the way medicine is headed, in 50 years, there will be no one interested in becoming a doctor.
Being a physician is not all about making a great living. Of course, we need to have genuine compassion for our patients and their situations, but we have trained so hard to become doctors. There should be compensation for our sacrifices– for our years of training and our accumulated debt, for being on call and sacrificing our family life, for the responsibility we have for our patients’ outcomes.
Enough said for now.