Many doctors plan to quit or cut back: survey

[TheLancinator]

Many doctors plan to quit or cut back: survey
Reuters


WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Primary care doctors in the United States feel overworked and nearly half plan to either cut back on how many patients they see or quit medicine entirely, according to a survey released on Tuesday.

And 60 percent of 12,000 general practice physicians found they would not recommend medicine as a career.

"The whole thing has spun out of control. I plan to retire early even though I still love seeing patients. The process has just become too burdensome," the Physicians' Foundation, which conducted the survey, quoted one of the doctors as saying.

The survey adds to building evidence that not enough internal medicine or family practice doctors are trained or practicing in the United States, although there are plenty of specialist physicians.

Health care reform is near the top of the list of priorities for both Congress and president-elect Barack Obama, and doctor's groups are lobbying for action to reduce their workload and hold the line on payments for treating Medicare, Medicaid and other patients with federal or state health insurance.

The Physicians' Foundation, founded in 2003 as part of a settlement in an anti-racketeering lawsuit among physicians, medical societies, and insurer Aetna, Inc., mailed surveys to 270,000 primary care doctors and 50,000 practicing specialists.

The 12,000 answers are considered representative of doctors as a whole, the group said, with a margin of error of about 1 percent. It found that 78 percent of those who answered believe there is a shortage of primary care doctors.

More than 90 percent said the time they devote to non-clinical paperwork has increased in the last three years and 63 percent said this has caused them to spend less time with each patient.

Eleven percent said they plan to retire and 13 percent said they plan to seek a job that removes them from active patient care. Twenty percent said they will cut back on patients seen and 10 percent plan to move to part-time work.

Seventy six percent of physicians said they are working at "full capacity" or "overextended and overworked".

Many of the health plans proposed by members of Congress, insurers and employers's groups, as well as Obama's, suggest that electronic medical records would go a long way to saving time and reducing costs.

[DemonGeminiX]

The cost of education to become a doctor is insane, and according to a recent conversation with my personal doctor, she mentioned that it's like jumping through flaming hoops to get insurance companies to pay for services rendered. It sucks to say this but I don't really blame them.

[TheLancinator]

And this is under the current system we have. If some kind of universal healthcare package gets passed, it will be a whole lot worse. If the GP's think they are overworked now, they ain't seen nothing yet.

[DemonGeminiX]

That all depends. If a universal system is implemented like our business policies were, then yeah, they're fucked. But there are countries where universal healthcare has actually worked out well.

[TheLancinator]

I will always point back to Canada. Universal healthcare exists there, yet many Canadians come to the United States for care because of the waiting times. Should it take 2 weeks to see a doctor when you have a cold? Nope, but it certainly could with a government run healthcare system in the US.

[DemonGeminiX]

From what I understand, it's the same in the UK (somebody from the uk can correct me on that if I'm wrong). But like I said, there are other countries that have had positive results with a universal system.

I forgot to mention that all the increased litigation against doctors at the drop of a dime is a big reason for them not being happy in their chosen profession here as well.

[TheLancinator]

But those other countries are small in both area and population. Try doing it in a country the size of the US and with a population of more than 300 million people.

And on top of all that, remember, it will be run by the US Federal government

[Tinysmasher]

Not to mention, most canadians with real salaried jobs pay 40-50% income tax AND still have to buy supplemental health insurance. I've yet to speak to an employed canadian about their healthcare and hear anything good about it. Generally speaking, I think most of them are just told it's better than America so shut up and pay as the official public line.

[PorkChopSandwiches]

I was speaking with a Candian last week, and they claimed the health care was just fine. Anyone from Canada care to respond?

[DemonGeminiX]

Yeah, where's Mugzy, Hal, et al... at on this?

I was just reading some opinions online that said that overall, health care costs under the universal system in Canada were half that of the United States per person. If you take away the profit-centered motive of the industry, it reduces costs by that much.

[TheLancinator]

It's half as much because they only see a 1/4 as many patients

[AnthemZ]

I think that all the lawyers should take their place! They seem to always act like they know so much more about medicine anyways!

[TheLancinator]

No doubt the US legal system is a HUGE problem for the medical industry...

[DemonGeminiX]

Originally Posted by AnthemZ

I think that all the lawyers should take their place! They seem to always act like they know so much more about medicine anyways!

And the rate of deaths will definitely rise...

[marquis]

Originally Posted by DemonGeminiX

From what I understand, it's the same in the UK (somebody from the uk can correct me on that if I'm wrong). But like I said, there are other countries that have had positive results with a universal system.

I forgot to mention that all the increased litigation against doctors at the drop of a dime is a big reason for them not being happy in their chosen profession here as well.

I can always see a doctor on the same day as I ask for an appointment, in fact I've so far always been able to get in within a couple of hours.On occasion when I've had to go into hospital for consultation or Xray it's always been pretty well straight away.And I get free medication and prescriptions too.
This perhaps not the case all over the UK but that's my experience.
The history of the National Health Service is interesting, the Labour Party likes to claim it as theirs but in fact it goes back to Winston Churchill (Conservative) asking a Liberal peer to make a report on the feasibility of a Welfare State.When the report was published Churchill pledged to implement it if he won the election, so did the Liberals but Labour dragged its heels over it.Labour won the election as it happens , they were obliged to set it up but they can hardly claim the credit.Strange that what our American friends call a Socialist idea was in fact due to an anti Socialist!