In order for healthcare reform to succeed, more medical students must be encouraged to choose primary medical care specialties, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.
“Family physicians and their primary care colleagues are the first contact people have with the healthcare system. Primary care physicians are the doctors who provide preventive care to keep Americans healthy and ongoing, comprehensive and coordinated care when they get sick,” said Ted Epperly, MD, president of the AAFP. “A shortage of primary care physicians translates into a lack of access to care for Americans.”
According to an AAFP report, “Workforce Reform: Recommendations of the American Academy of Family Physicians,” the increasing generalist-specialist imbalance in the United States undermines the nation’s ability to achieve universal healthcare access and limits its ability to meet needs of underserved rural and urban populations.
The report calls for::
- Developing, testing and implementing new physician payment models, such as the patient-centered medical home;
- Establishing a 10-year national plan that targets 50 percent of the total number of U.S. physicians to practice in true primary care specialties (family medicine, general pediatrics and general internal medicine);
- Encouraging medical schools to admit students most likely to choose primary medical care specialties by dedicating a portion of admissions to family medicine or other primary care careers and designating preferential funding for medical schools that produce more primary care physicians; and
- Increasing funding for Title VII of the Public Health Service Act and loan repayment programs for primary medical care careers, expanding National Health Service Corps opportunities and establishing a Senior NHSC.
According to the report, primary care services provided by limited specialists and sub-specialists who have had little or no primary care training or continuing education are costly and inefficient because limited specialists tend to use technologies and procedures of their specialties more than generalists.
“Healthcare reform that provides coverage to the uninsured is essential to the welfare of our nation,” said Epperly. “But equally essential is ensuring that Americans can see a personal physician when they need one.”