Musings on President Obama and his speech to the AMA
Tags: Healthcare Reform, H-IT, Obama, AMA, EHR, Tort ReformYou did not enter this profession to be bean-counters and paper-pushers. You entered this profession to be healers – and that's what our health care system should let you be.
- President Barack Obama, Speech to the AMA, June 15, 2009, Chicago, IL
Today, Obama was as sincere and charismatic as we have come to expect. In his speech to the AMA he was able to address many of the topics and issues facing the U.S. healthcare system. Of the points addressed, I was particularly interested in his views on tort reform, implementation of electronic health records, and improving health care by making physicians better doctors.
Looming Physician Shortages Continue to Make Headlines
Tags: Obama
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published recent survey results that demonstrated a significant decline in the number of medical students who intend to go into Primary Care. An abysmal 2% of students planned to go into Primary Care Internal Medicine and 5% into Family Medicine. This in the face of the aging Baby Boomer population and the obvious need for more physicians to manage their care (estimates are 85,000 physicians short by 2020.)
Family Physicians, general Internists, and Pediatricians make less than 50% of the salaries of some of our specialist counterparts - while this is not the only reason for entering specialties, it contributes. We are in essence paid more to fix problems with procedures than to prevent them with good care. I think Dean Ornish hit the nail on the head with his article "The Collapse of Primary Care" in Newsweek where he states:
For example, insurance companies pay more than $30,000 to amputate a diabetic foot even though most amputations are preventable by scrupulous foot care organized by a primary care doctor for a few hundred dollars and which is often not even covered by insurance or Medicare.
I think once we figure out our priorities as a country, the rest should fall into place - although not without a significant sacrifice from all involved.
Even Barak Obama has indicated that there is a significant problem in the works - this in response to the AAFP Candidate Survey question dealing with Workforce Development: What is your plan to increase the number of medical students who choose family medicine and primary care?
To increase the number of medical students who choose family medicine and primary care, I will expand funding—including loan repayment, adequate reimbursement, grants for training curricula, and infrastructure support to improve working conditions—to ensure a strong workforce that will champion prevention and public health activities.
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