A recent article by Health Care Dive called Primary care providers say field is ‘crumbling’ shows just how bad it is to be an industrialized physician. Here are some highlights:
- 61% characterize U.S. primary care as “crumbling.”
- Nearly 80% of respondents felt the current workforce is undersized to meet patient needs.
- Clinicians’ administrative tasks have increased by up to 15%.
- Only 19% of clinicians report their practices are fully staffed.
- Patient volumes have also increased, both from backlogs of care and from new patients whose former providers’ practices may have shuttered during the pandemic.
- The percentage of physicians working in practices at least partially owned by a hospital or health system increased by almost 8% between 2021 and 2022.
We can also add that there is a constant physician shortage.
So, why would any medical student consider primary care? Good question for which there is only ONE answer – DIRECT PRIMARY CARE!
Direct primary care is not crumbling. It is growing. They have just the right amount of staff to meet their patient needs. If they don’t, they hire more people. Administrative tasks have decreased in DPC. Patient volumes are 1/4 of those of industrialized physicians and NO ONE is selling out to their local hospital or health system.
This is called being a “free range doctor” versus an industrialized one.
This is Direct Primary Care.