What is the Issue:
In the past few years there has been much debate over the Affordable Care Act and its effects on the healthcare industry in the United States. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) “Will ensure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care and will create the transformation within the health care system necessary to contain costs” (The patient protection and affordable care act detailed summary, n.a.). However, what these transformations are and how they will affect the healthcare system, specifically primary care physicians are uncertain. Primary care physicians are the cornerstones for patients in the health care system. They act as a liaison between families and specialist physicians. Primary care physicians provide a variety of patient care services that involve multiple skill sets. They are in charge of diagnosing the patient and managing the plan of care. As a result of the newly implemented Affordable Care Act and the current shortage of primary care physicians “The primary care doctor is a rapidly evolving species -- and in the future could become an endangered one” (Okie, 2012).
Before the ACA was implemented, there was already a shortage of primary care physicians. It is important to note that most Americans utilize or go to see a primary care physician. “An analysis of the projected supply and demand for physicians, conducted by the Health Resources and Services Administration in 2008, foretells of a total shortage across the entire workforce. Particularly evident is the deficit projected in non-primary care subspecialties, with a shortage of 35,000 surgeons and 27,000 medical specialists by 2020” (AAMC, 2014). According to the National ambulatory Medical Care Survey (2010) 55.5% of do...
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National ambulatory medical care survey: 2010 Summary tables. (2010). In Centers for disease control and prevention. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from ttp://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ahcd/namcs_summary/2010_namcs_web_tables.pdf
Okie, S. (2012, May 17). The Evolving Primary Care Physician. In The New England Journal of Medicine. Retrieved February 10, 2014, from http://search.proquest.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/docview/1014419556/fulltextPDF?accountid=13158
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The patient protection and affordable care act detailed summary. (n.d.). In Democratic policy and communication center. Retrieved February 9, 2014, from http://www.dpc.senate.gov/healthreformbill/healthbill04.pdf
In the 1990s the government made the decision to cut back on physician production because it though that it had enough physicians (Dauphinee, 2005). This lead to the greatest net loss of Canadian physicians to other countries, primarily the united states (Dauphinee, 2005). It was approximated that 508 physicians left in 1996 (Dauphinee, 2005).
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The number of doctors that present in the United States of America directly affects the communities that these doctors serve and plays a large role in how the country and its citizens approach health care. The United States experienced a physician surplus in the 1980s, and was affected in several ways after this. However, many experts today have said that there is currently a shortage of physicians in the United States, or, at the very least, that there will be a shortage in the near future. The nation-wide statuses of a physician surplus or shortage have many implications, some of which are quite detrimental to society. However, there are certain remedies that can be implemented in order to attempt to rectify the problems, or alleviate some of their symptoms.
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It is no secret that the current healthcare reform is a contentious matter that promises to transform the way Americans view an already complex healthcare system. The newly insured population is expected to increase by an estimated 32 million while facing an expected shortage of up to 44,000 primary care physicians within the next 12 years (Doherty, 2010). Amidst these already overwhelming challenges, healthcare systems are becoming increasingly scrutinized to identify ways to improve cost containment and patient access (Curits & Netten, 2007). “Growing awareness of the importance of health promotion and disease prevention, the increased complexity of community-based care, and the need to use scarce human healthcare resources, especially family physicians, far more efficiently and effectively, have resulted in increased emphasis on primary healthcare renewal.” (Bailey, Jones & Way, 2006, p. 381).
Professionalism initiative. (2012). Informally published manuscript, Medical Center, University of Kansas, Kansas City, KS, Retrieved from http://www.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/fafd/professionalism-initiative.html
“Features of the Health Care Law.” HHS.gov/HealthCare. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 31 Jan. 2014. Web. 31 Jan. 2014. .
“Medicare and the New Health Care Law — What it Means for You.” (2010). Medicare Publications, http://www.medicare.gov/Publications/Pubs/pdf/11467.pdf
McDonough, John E., and Eli Y. Adashi. "Realizing the Promise of the Affordable Care Act--January 1, 2014." JAMA: The Journal Of The American Medical Association 311.6 (2014): 569-70. Print.
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