Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti stated "It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Speaking of health, the "perfect storm" appears to be coming in a very sick industry - healthcare. Universities saddled them with debt, lawyers caused medical malpractice insurance to go through the roof, and 7+ years of extremely hard effort on their own are driving doctors away from general practice. What do you think is going to happen as a result?
FTA:
Last year, the U.S. government spent over $2 trillion on health care, the most of any OECD country. Still, with all that money going out the door there is a worsening income crisis among primary care physicians that, if unaddressed, will lead to an acute shortage of these doctors in the years ahead, when retiring Baby Boomers will need them most.
The education pipeline offers no hint of improvement. Less than 2% of current medical students are interested in general internal medicine and 4.9% in family care practice, says a study by Karen Hauer, M.D., published in the Journal of the American Medical Association...
In 2009, primary care doctors earned a median salary of $191,401, according to the Medical Group Management Association's 2010 Physician Compensation Report. Cardiologists earned a median of $457,310 and dermatologists made $385,088 - doctors who owned their practices earned much more, on average...
In fact, the primary care doctor's gross is often far short of what they need to make ends meet. The average medical school student graduates with $200,000 in loans, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). This doesn't include their debt related to four-years of undergraduate study. For some students the total debt burden can reach nearly half a million dollars - a daunting sum...
"But family physicians don't make enough to cover costs of running a clinic, the insurance is high, and so many clinics have closed over the last few years. Even GPs still in business have to take on more patients to pay the bills. The quality of care goes down, and that's a huge deterrent.
Primary Care Doctors: Saying No To $191,000 A Year
DISCUSS!
Original posting by Braincrave Second Life staff on Aug 24, 2010 at http://www.braincrave.com/viewblog.php?id=303
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