Does the US need physicians for primary care?

[Guest guest]

I met with a guy last month you works for one of these third party

administrators: they help self insured employers manage their health plans. He

showed me what they are doing to lower costs. They are quite willing to manage

populations. I think my job is to promote patient health by using the knowledge

and skills acquired getting my MD. However, what if something came along that

was better than 'MD' at promoting patient/employee health? Could I get

'disrupted' right out of a job? Unless we change, I think I know who is going

to win this battle.

Corporate Wellness Program:

1) uses data

2) manages populations

3) must prove it saves money

4) evidenced based

5) access to advice, education, coaching via email, phone, face-to-face

Primary Care Physician:

1) no data (but we think we're great)

2) manages individuals (only the compliant)

3) cost not part of our vocabulary

4) sometimes evidenced based

5) face-to-face only, otherwise 'go to ER'

Comments?