Primary Care "Deserts"

I want to talk about a growing problem in the medical field. Yes I am focused more on management of medical offices but if there's a shortage of primary care doctors then there is a shortage of doctor's offices that need to be managed.

According to a recent report from the Association of American Medical Colleges, we will lose 100,000 primary care doctors by 2025. There are places throughout the U.S. that are primary care "deserts" or simply, they lack efficient amount of primary care doctor's in that area especially in rural ones. Our primary care doctors are the ones that spend more time with us and our family. They take care of our basic medical needs and refer us to specialists if what we need is beyond their expertise.

Living in rural Nevada, I see the need for more primary care doctors especially pediatricians. I have two children who have more medical needs than most and a great pediatrician (for my kids) is hard to come by in our county. I have had only one doctor that I felt knew what she was doing and did what was best for my children but she retired. I am still looking a doctor that I can trust to take care of my children's health needs.

One of the issues causing this problem is pay. Our primary care doctors are paid less then specialists and surgeons although they tend to work longer hours. This alone would veer potential medical students into a different direction. I personally would rather see my primary doctor than a specialist because she knows me and went through everything with me and same for my children's doctor. If our primary care doctors were paid more, we would see a higher demand for these positions and we would have more to choose from that would fit with our family's needs.

With many new doctors choosing to work for hospitals instead of private practice and medical students choosing specialties instead of primary care, it leaves those of us looking for private practice office managers with less options. We could look into working for hospitals but that would require different hours and days. The main reason I went into this field is to have the option of working in an office environment that was open only on week days and closed at a decent time so I can be with my kids. Also, working for the bigger offices and hospitals takes away from being able to know your patients that come in, to know their families, and to have an impact on their lives.

It's important to have a receptionist that knows when your child actually does need to be seen asap, it is important to have a billing/accounting person that you can turn to for payments when you are running low on money, it's important to have an office manager on staff to make sure that the office and employees are spending their time making sure everything is ran smoothly, inventory is stocked, patients are getting the care they need, and the physician is able to focus on their patient and not basic office duties. When there's a shortage of these doctors then there's a shortage of these offices, and a shortage of office manager positions.

References

court, e. (2016, April 4). America's Facing a Shortage of Primary Care Doctors. Retrieved from fierce practice management: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/americas-1-million-doctor-shortage-is-right-upon-us-2016-04-01