Direct primary care – understand the appeal before your criticize

ACP has an excellent position paper on direct primary care – Assessing the Patient Care Implications of “Concierge” and Other Direct Patient Contracting Practices: A Policy Position Paper From the American College of Physicians Martin Donohoe, MD in a letter criticizing the paper Academic Medicine and Concierge Practice makes what I consider the tired, holier than thou, ethical argument that such practices are in fact not ethical.  He writes, For such institutions to teach students to treat all patients equally, combat inequalities in health care access and outcomes, and practice evidence-based medicine while at the same time supporting clinics that do the antithesis is troubling. At the least, trainees should not be allowed to work in such clinics. Bob Doherty, writing for ACP writes a very thoughtful rebuttal – Academic Medicine and Concierge Practice.  His discussion is very worthwhile. I believe that it is important that, as we research and consider the policy and ethical implications of DPCPs, we also consider the external factors that are driving many physicians toward them—including excessive paperwork associated with insurance interactions, electronic health records that are designed to meet the needs of payers and regulators and not the clinical needs of physicians and their patients, and productivity-based payments that penalize physicians for spending more time with their patients. I have met many physicians who have gone into concierge and d...
Source: DB's Medical Rants - Category: Internal Medicine Authors: Tags: Medical Rants Source Type: blogs