Sunday, January 20, 2008

Another Unfortunate Consequence of the Loss of Primary Care

... the abrogation of responsibility for the patient.

-Wes

2 comments:

The Happy Hospitalist said...

This is so very true.

As a hospitalist, I will sign things I initiated, like oxygen most commonly.

But when I get the call a year later to renew it, I refer onto the primary doc.

I can't renew something that I haven't managed in a year.

It's the same with medication refills.

And you are absolutely right. Who's the center of the patients universe medically.

More and more often it's the VA for meds, the cardiologist for the heart, the pulmonologist for the lungs, and on and on and on...

DrWes said...

Happy-

Yeah. Can't wait until I need these services...

In listening to all of the rhetoric about the election, "covering the uninsured," mandates, and all of the worthless policy drivel out there, I can't help but think the little guy's going to be left in the bureaucratic dust because no one's factored the importance of the patient's primary physician in the scheme of things. Not to discount the importance of highly-trained specialists who do all kinds of amazing procedures, but the rubber meets the road with primary care.

It's just so obvious in retrospect, but not one of the candidates has an answer for this. Not one.