By Primary PartnerCare

Date:  February 28, 2024

It has been a year since Forbes published the below article about the healthcare system changes resulting in a shortage of primary care physicians at the same time that our country is aging.  The article states “Sadly, though, the role of these medical “gatekeepers” is being severely diminished, thanks to enormous downward reimbursement pressures and a host of other obstacles, including poor compensation and burnout, which make it increasingly difficult for these doctors to do their jobs properly.”  Forbes wisely goes on to state “In addition, this environment disincentivizes future physicians from entering the primary care field.” If America is losing its primary care physicians, and these same reasons are leading to young doctors not wanting to go into primary care, where does this leave our country and what is being done to fix it?

The value-based models that the American healthcare system is counting on to decrease the cost of care while improving quality are based on primary care, leaving us to ask “what is everyone thinking and why don’t payors do more to encourage and support primary care?”

We applaud Forbes and Contributor Rita Numerof for publishing this important piece and concluding by recognizing that although CMS (Medicare) is doing a lot to lower the cost of healthcare while improving the health outcomes produced, “the most critical piece in the care puzzle has been largely ignored: the all important patient-physician relationship!” This is the very foundation of Primary PartnerCare and key driver for physicians who historically chose to practice primary care. We now need to embrace it as the powerful recruitment tool to recruit new physicians to primary care careers that it can be.