Countdown - Top 10 Most Overblown Health Stories of the Decade: #7

Posted on December 17, 2009
Filed Under Overblown Health News |

The countdown continues with:

#7: Crocodile Tears For Primary Care

In the contentious debate over the future of our healthcare system, in which the opposing parties find almost nothing in common, there is one thing everybody agrees upon - the abiding importance of primary care medicine. Both sides of the argument vow - whatever else they may do - to re-invigorate primary care, and restore it to the position of central importance it deserves. DrRich explains why the promises of both the Democrats and the Republicans to fix primary care are, to say it politely, hooey.

Comments

2 Responses to “Countdown - Top 10 Most Overblown Health Stories of the Decade: #7”

  1. Michael Kirsch, M.D. on December 17th, 2009 10:49 am

    A few more tears to add to the tsunami. Beyond the 7.5 minutes of alloted time, conflicting practice guidelines, reimbursement squeeze and P4P (aka pay for paperwork), you might have mentioned 2 other primary care job requirements:
    (1) 100% patient satisfaction
    (2) Perfect medical outcomes

    Excellent post.

  2. Doug Perednia, M.D. on December 19th, 2009 7:12 pm

    An excellent post, Rich. To add yet one more item to your list: In many states and for many insurers, they now have the opportunity to beg to be allowed to use brand name drugs. Horizon BCBS is now requiring that patients MUST be started on generics before brand names will be covered. This might be okay if patients knew that they’d be getting the same generic with the same potency each time, but such is not the case. I’ll be writing about this soon.

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