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A New Paradigm for Primary Care—Reply

A New Paradigm for Primary Care—Reply In reply Dr Volpintesta's frustration of how much time he spends performing administrative functions is experienced by primary care physicians across the country, including me. But I am more optimistic than he is that it is possible in a well-functioning primary care home to off-load our administrative responsibilities and spend more time diagnosing, treating, and listening to the preferences of our patients. The key is having other members of the team appropriately trained and empowered to take on administrative tasks, such as scheduling tests, determining appropriate referrals for nonmedical services (eg, transportation, medical equipment), completing insurance forms, and providing preventive health counseling. I do not think his “radical” suggestion that college and medical school be shortened into 4 years should be dismissed as “ill thought out by medical leaders.” I do not personally endorse squeezing 8 years of education into 4, and I value my liberal arts education. However, whether the 8 years could be shortened to, say, 6 to 7 years, especially for those students who have a clear idea about what they want to do, strikes me as a very reasonable suggestion, given that we simply cannot afford our current system. Shortening the preresidency years would also result in less debt for students at the end of medical school, which may increase the proportion willing to go into lower-paying primary care careers rather than pursuing more lucrative specialties to pay off their loans. Back to top Article Information Correspondence: Dr Katz, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, 313 N Figueroa St, Room 912, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (mkatz@dhs.lacounty.gov). Financial Disclosure: None reported. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Archives of Internal Medicine American Medical Association

A New Paradigm for Primary Care—Reply

Archives of Internal Medicine , Volume 172 (11) – Jun 11, 2012

A New Paradigm for Primary Care—Reply

Abstract

In reply Dr Volpintesta's frustration of how much time he spends performing administrative functions is experienced by primary care physicians across the country, including me. But I am more optimistic than he is that it is possible in a well-functioning primary care home to off-load our administrative responsibilities and spend more time diagnosing, treating, and listening to the preferences of our patients. The key is having other members of the team appropriately trained and empowered...
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References (5)

Publisher
American Medical Association
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
ISSN
0003-9926
eISSN
1538-3679
DOI
10.1001/archinternmed.2012.1183
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In reply Dr Volpintesta's frustration of how much time he spends performing administrative functions is experienced by primary care physicians across the country, including me. But I am more optimistic than he is that it is possible in a well-functioning primary care home to off-load our administrative responsibilities and spend more time diagnosing, treating, and listening to the preferences of our patients. The key is having other members of the team appropriately trained and empowered to take on administrative tasks, such as scheduling tests, determining appropriate referrals for nonmedical services (eg, transportation, medical equipment), completing insurance forms, and providing preventive health counseling. I do not think his “radical” suggestion that college and medical school be shortened into 4 years should be dismissed as “ill thought out by medical leaders.” I do not personally endorse squeezing 8 years of education into 4, and I value my liberal arts education. However, whether the 8 years could be shortened to, say, 6 to 7 years, especially for those students who have a clear idea about what they want to do, strikes me as a very reasonable suggestion, given that we simply cannot afford our current system. Shortening the preresidency years would also result in less debt for students at the end of medical school, which may increase the proportion willing to go into lower-paying primary care careers rather than pursuing more lucrative specialties to pay off their loans. Back to top Article Information Correspondence: Dr Katz, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, 313 N Figueroa St, Room 912, Los Angeles, CA 90012 (mkatz@dhs.lacounty.gov). Financial Disclosure: None reported.

Journal

Archives of Internal MedicineAmerican Medical Association

Published: Jun 11, 2012

Keywords: primary health care

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