What about the primary care shortage?

March 11, 2009

Jim Kennedy’s post raises and issue we

often hear in small practices: What about the pressing need for more primary

care? How can you (dare!) to provide for less than the full needs of your

community!

The real answer is exactly as Jim posts:

we show how to have a life and how to live up to our professional ideals. If

the real work of comprehensive primary care were funded, this would also result

in adequate financing for the work and we’d have the trifecta of job

satisfaction.

Instead we have policies that are toxic to

comprehensive primary care, that make it impossible in many instances to do the

right thing. Because of these policies, smart medical students avoid primary

care in droves, so we have too few entering the field.

I agree that this is not Jim Kennedy’s

problem – it is how our policy makers value primary care. I recommend a

variation in the way he says it:

“I can’t possible solve the problems

stemming from bad policy. There is a primary care shortage. I’m willing to do

the best I can but I won’t compromise on the quality of care I deliver. I can

only stretch so far before I break and then we’ll have one fewer PCP around.

Don’t force me to into professional suicide, rather join me in the fight to

change the policies that are the true problem.”

Gordon

From:

[mailto: ] On

Behalf Of Kennedy, Jim

Sent: Wednesday, March 11, 2009

2:30 PM

To:

Subject: RE:

i am invisible

I have had the same responses although some do get it.

I went back the Univ. for a 50 anniversary conference as a speaker, and since

they know me, they did listen. Some were offended when I told the that too few

family docs was not my problem, but that our type of practice was the solution.

If you can work less hard, and make more money and be happier, maybe more will

choose our way of practice. (At least if you can the last of the 3!)

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