Primary Care Physician

There is an imbalance between primary and specialty care services in the U.S. health care delivery system.

The aim of the ACA is to provide affordable health care to all Americans, but it still leaves some issues unaddressed that will impact the access to health care. Covino (n.d.), “Though the intentions of the legislation are good, the Affordable Care Act does little to improve the actual health care delivery system” (para.1, page 2). According to the American Medical Association, we are facing an increasing Physician shortage. As of 2010 we faced a shortfall of 13,700 physicians, the estimate is that number will increase to 62,900 by 2015, 91,500 by 2020, and 130,600 by 2025 (Krupa, n.d.), with primary care taking the largest impact. Health Care coverage will be of no benefit if there are no doctors to treat the patients. An example of this occurred in 2002 when Thailand’s’ “30 Bhat Scheme” added (CNN n.d.) “14 million people to the country’s health care system, resulting in long waits and subpar service” (Your health is covered, but who is going to treat you?) Several factors contribute to the physician shortage. Many physicians are reaching the age of retirement, the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates nearly 15 million physicians will be eligible for Medicare in the coming years (CNN n.d.). The increasing cost of malpractice insurance also deters many from pursuing a career in medicine, and is forcing some doctors to retire. Also contributing to the physician shortage is a lack of spots in residency programs. “In 2011, more than 7,000 were left

According to Health Resources and Services Administration If the system for providing primary care in 2020 were to stay fundamentally the same as today, there will be an estimated shortage of 20,400 primary care physicians ("Projecting the Supply and Demand for Primary Care Practitioners Through 2020," n.d.). In addition this projection doesn’t include the decreasing number of people perusing the medical degree and the baby boomers retiring form this filed of science. In the hand we are experiencing a significant increase in NPs and PAs. Considering this projected shortage, which is actually a very frightening situation the increasing number of NPs and PAs, can effectively be integrated; we could reduce the number of physician shortage by over 69 percent in 2020.

The purpose of this paper is to address the issue of the physician shortage in Unite State of America. This is more exactly delineate as a gap between the population’s demand for primary care services and the capacity of primary care, as currently delivered, respond to the demand. According to Nile (2015), physician is person trained and licensed to practice medicine or an individual with a Doctor degree in medicine. Physicians play a central role in health care delivery. Although now, physicians are sharing patient care responsibility with a team of Physician assistant (PA) and Nurse Practitioner (NP), especially with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act implementations. The PA and NP are alternative to medical doctor or physician

Primary care physicians are vital to prevention. These physicians are a patient’s first line of contact with the healthcare system and they have the difficult task of conducting checkups to screen for all diseases. Unfortunately, it is much more common for a medical student to specialize in another field due to a much greater salary and more narrowed scope of practice. As a result, the number of specialists is much greater than the number of primary care physicians, creating a

Healthcare is an evolving system in the United States; constantly changing as a result of regulations like the Affordable Care Act or because of the large financial burden healthcare presents to many individuals. The system is moving from a fee-for-service system to one that holds healthcare organizations accountable for the health outcomes of the individuals it serves. Certainly for the consumer, these changes are beneficial, but for a healthcare organization, it can be like navigating a mine field, and for a new organization, there are numerous challenges. This paper will discuss the implications of opening a primary care physicians group in the outer belt of Washington, D.C. The focus will be on office configuration, scheduling

Understanding the forces affecting physicians discusses the extreme struggles private practice physicians have obtained. The increase in malpractice insurance and benefit costs, horizontal or declining revenue, and the extreme requirements to obtain EHR are contributing factors. Private practice physicians have looked for ways to work with hospitals and other health organizations. There are three offerings that were designed to meet the needs of physicians: “independent physician programs, employed

The Affordable Care Act set forth millions of dollars to address the problems and concerns that are associated with existing physicians shortages. The Affordable Care Act also has provisions that are aimed to improve the education, ongoing training as well as to help with the recruitment of nursing, physicians, doctors as well as other health care personnel. In addition, there are provisions in place that help to increase workforces’ cultural competency, enhance faculty training of healthcare professionals, and diversity. The provisions also play a vital role because of the fact they are put into place to examine innovative reimbursement and care delivery models that highlight primary care services value and offer in improvement in the patient care coordination.

It would seem that even physician see the primary care provider role as one that is becoming undesirable according to a study by the University of Arizona. They asked both doctors and nurse practitioners if they would recommend student become nurse practitioners or primary care physicians and found,” both doctors and nurse practitioners are more likely to recommend students become nurse practitioners than primary care physicians. The need for primary care clinicians is increasing as the population in the U.S. grows older and health care becomes more extensive. These findings could be impactful as doctors and nurse practitioners offer similar services when acting as primary care clinicians (University of Arizona College of Nursing, 2015).”

The overall health care industry has undergone fundamental change over the last decade. Most of the changes have occurred within the underlying business operation of the healthcare industry. Legislation in particular has had a profound impact on the health care industry. First, due to the Affordable Care Act of 2010, the nursing profession is undergoing a fundamental shift in regards to the patient experience. The U.S. health care system is now shifting the focus from acute and specialty care to that of primary care which requires a shift in business operations. Also, due primarily to that aging of the baby boomer generation, the need for primary car overall is shifting and will be needed heavily in the future. The last 10 years in particular has seen an increasing influx of retiring baby boomers that subsequently need care. A positive impact on the ACA legislation is that more individuals are now insured. As such, the need for primary care will also increase over subsequent years, particular within the minority population. This patient centric approach will require more care predicated on specific communities in a seamless manner. Furthermore, primary care physicians will be in high demand over the coming years.

As a prerequisite to composing my phase one-semester paper, I interviewed two colleagues of mine. Beginning with the interviewee who is female and sixty-three years old, and has recently had two memorable health experiences. Which were with her primary care physician and an emergency room physician. The primary care physician was the most pleasant memorable experience. Moving from Texas to Massachusetts was difficult in itself, however now she needed to locate a new primary care physician. Not to mention it was challenging because she cherished her previous primary care physician. She had never been to the new health care professional office and this was her first time, which can create a range of emotions. She called the office beforehand to make an appointment and the receptionist was kind and personable through the telephone and provided her with the information she needed to come prepared with, for example, a form of identification, insurance card, and copay.

The Primary Health Provider 1 produced a task report that focused on patients managing gonorrhoea, successful treatment in each of the clinical presentations and the prognosis of the gonorrhoea medical condition. The report explained about the symptoms of gonorrhoea in men and women where it is accompanied with burning sensation while urinating or passing water. In addition, the report discussed about using two forms of antibiotics as the treatment options, and causes of further complications if diagnosis is

However, the shortage of primary care health professionals is as much a problem of distribution as it is of the workforce size, according to an analysis of data from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Therefore, the United States does not manage or actively regulate the number, type, or geographic distribution of its health workforce. Nevertheless, health care professionals choose how and where to work (Maldistribution of Primary Care Workforce Challenges Efforts”, para. 1-2). On the other hand, the United states has about 80 primary care physicians for every 100,000 people. Still, rural areas have 68 per 100,000, compared to urban areas, which have 84 per 100,000. Yet, the AHRQ data show that a total of 46,981 primary

There are a few factors that are causing these shortages, one factor is the decline of medical students choosing primary care versus a specialized field of medicine, they realize that they can make more money doing specialty care then their primary care counterparts. Another factor is that primary care providers are choosing to stay in urban areas. They choose to stay in these areas because they have more opportunity, have better technology and they fear that they will be isolated from learning new techniques then those practicing in rural areas. There is also the fact that they can earn more money and give their families more opportunity. Another factor is contributing to the primary care shortage in these underserved areas is the aging of those practicing providers are nearing retirement age. In an article published by California Family Rights Act (CFRA), written by Jon Bailey, Mr. Bailey states that “thirty percent of rural primary care practitioners are at or nearing retirement age, while younger practitioners (those under the age of 40) account for only twenty percent of the current workforce” (Bailey, 2009). This will cause a strain to an already undersupplied access to health care providers. There is also the challenge of increased demand of medical services due to the ageing population in these areas, since people tend to develop more healthcare needs when they age.

The major protocol of this paper is to find out the various approaches to overcoming the shortage of primary care physicians in the US. There are different reasons why this has happened, yet one thing's for sure: With the increasingly old population, the issue is just going to deteriorate. After all, it might appear to be peculiar at the first look when you consider that such many individuals apply to medical school to become doctors and that the quantity of medical graduates is at an unequaled high. So why the lack? (Rosenblat & Hart, 2000).