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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Franco is Still Dead

From the NY Times: "Number of US Primary Care Doctors Down".
Fewer American doctors are focusing on primary care, but the decline is being covered by physicians from other countries. The General Accountability Office said Tuesday that as of 2006 there were 22,146 American doctors in residency programs in the United States specializing in primary care.

That was down from 23,801 in 1995, the research arm of Congress told the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

''It is troubling to me that the number of Americans pursuing a career in primary care has declined,'' said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

The Senator's solution? Doubling the funds for the National Health Service Corps. That's like trying to get people to buy a Zune by pricing it less than an iPod. Hello? It ain't gonna work with primary care either.

The only way to get more doctors going into primary care is to make the career and lifestyle *more* attractive than going into a specialty. Paying them more and abusing working them less would be a great start.

I'm not holding my breath on this one.