Physician Foundation Report 11/18/08

The Physicians’ Foundation was founded in 2003 with settlement funds from a major lawsuit against Aetna (long story). http://www.physiciansfoundations.org

The PF issued a report this morning after reviewing 12,000 survey responses from practicing physicians.

The conclusions about medicine in general and primary care in particular in the U.S. are very grim.

 Many physicians plan to retire early

 Many physicians are looking for non-clinical jobs.

 Many physicians plan to cut back on patient loads.

 There is too much paperwork.

 Some physicians want to cut back to part-time.

(There is another topic lurking here, but it is very sensitive, and will be covered in another post).

Comments:

None of this surprises me. All of it is true.

Physicians tend to grumble a lot.

Those with negative opinions may have been more likely to answer the survey.

We need more primary care physicians, but primary care is not all that attractive.

More later.