Divide and Conquer Is "Working"

So what happens when CMS threatens to cut cardiologists' and oncologists' payments by 10-11% and shift money to primary care?

It gets ugly.

As a result, tensions between primary care doctors and specialists might even spill over to training programs:

Tensions are rising among doctors, said Ted Epperly, 55, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians in Leawood, Kansas, in a telephone interview. Epperly runs a family practice in Boise, Idaho, and teaches at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

Specialist colleagues have implied his support for the Medicare changes may cost his students, he said.

While family-care students typically spend parts of their three-year residencies training with specialists, “What I’ve heard is ‘maybe we just won’t have time any longer to teach your residents,’” Epperly said.

-Wes

You Know Primary Care is Bad When

... you hear one of your more senior family practice physicians say:

"I now what I'll be doing soon: morphing into a practice manager supervising four or five nurse practitioners."

Thing is, he's probably right.

-Wes