Doctors Continue To Flee Primary Care: Pediatricians Go Part-Time

[HuckleB]

http://getbetterhealth.com/doctors-continue-to-flee-primary-care-pediatricians-go-part-time/2010.01.14

"The WSJ Blog posted recently that health care job postings are up and that the health care job market is “strong”.

According to the post, ”The business research group said that “advertised vacancies for healthcare practitioners or technical occupations outnumbered the unemployed looking for work in this field by almost 3 to 1,” citing November data.”

While it’s true that more job openings than job hunters is typically a good thing and indicates a robust job market, the WSJ Blog failed to recognize one important issue with the health care industry: in some areas of the health care sector, namely primary care, docs are leaving the field of medicine all together, and have been for at least a decade. So, it’s no wonder there are so many job openings…there’s no one around to fill them!

A recent study in the journal Pediatrics, “Part Time Work Among Pediatrics Expands”, gives a great over view of the pediatric work force and confirms the experience I’ve had in the field for the last 15 plus years.

..."


------------------------------------

I'm not sure what this means for HCR of any kind, but it seems like it might keep things from getting off the ground, even if they are delayed a few years by the legislation itself.

[MadMaddie]

1. Thanks for the article!

My graduate class is discussing this very topic.

Angie

[dkf]

2. What jobs pay better than doctors?

I'm very curious to know what jobs they are leaving for

[HuckleB]

3. We're talking primary care docs.

People with big educations, who make a fair wage but nothing extraordinary considering they put 11 to 13 years into education before they could begin work. And they probably have plenty of contacts. I suspect some go into research, but I wouldn't be surprised if some find ways to make more money as "consultants," and, I suspect others go to work for insurance companies, and other health service industry companies.

[dkf]

4. Doctors should get near free educations and have a decent paycheck doing a public service.

[HuckleB]

5. Yup.

[havocmom]

6. Some are leaving for their own best interests

Dealing with so many insurers takes a lot of work. That means a lot of staff to jump through insurance hoops. Rules, demands, limits from insurers make life hell for many GPs. Some get fed up with not being able to practice medicine for all the levels of administrative rules from different companies.

They are leaving, not necessarily going to something else that is better paying. They are just fed up with insurers standing between them and their patients.

HCR as we see now, all about insurance companies, is a total joke. I have a GREAT health insurance policy. Still can't get in to see a doctor who can actually provide HEALTH CARE.

[dkf]

7. Maybe being a doctor sucks but isn't that true about most jobs?

Are jobs so plentiful that they can take their skills and earn a better living elsewhere? I'd like to hear a real life story about what a doctor who left is doing now. How much is he or she making compared to before?

[havocmom]

8. Friend of ours is restoring old cabins and barns

Finds it more meaningful than dancing to insurance companies' off key music.

edited to add: Yes, most jobs have bad days, but GPs have to deal with insurance hoops which make real care impossible AND the risk of being sued for not doing care. They can't win so long as insurance bean counters make the rules for practicing medicine.

[busymom]

9. LOL Many. If you go into medicine fo.r the big paycheck, you

will be disappointed.

There are many ways to earn more money more quickly....Physicians go to college for 8 years and graduate with an average debt of $150,000. They then taken on an additional 3-10 years of residency training where they work 80-100 hrs/week for a wage of roughly minimum wage. During this time, they don't set aside money for retirement, can't save, and many have to begin repayment on their student loans which can only be deferred a short period of time.

Enter practice: Malpractice insurance, insurance company hoops, hiring of staff, paying for facilities...and add to that that patients (espcially medicare with multiple illnesses) tend to be demanding. Of course we are...when you are sick, you are looking for help, right! Many doctors continue to put in 60+ hours/week. Some of the part-time internists that I know work 40 hours/week...and they are part-timers.

Medicine is also an emotionally and physically demanding job.

Doctors do more than just your routine physical. They might uncover cancer in a young person, or work for 30 hours with no sleep if they have a call night. They also have to continue to work their hardest to maintain a positive attitude for each person who comes through the door regardless of the attitude of the patient.

In the back of their minds, even though they get paid less if their diabetics are non-compliant and don't have good a1c values, they are at risk of being sued over things that often times they have no control over.

Food for thought...