The Doctor is Inundated: Primary Care Needs Reform

WBUR's CommonHealth Blog
June 9, 2009

...While the current crisis presents tremendous challenges, it also offers opportunity for change, both here in Massachusetts and nationally. In a recent report, the New England Healthcare Institute recommended a series of innovations that would go a long way toward redesigning primary care, including:

• Primary Care Teams – Redefining primary care as a team activity will take the load off of primary care physicians by enabling them to delegate patient care to registered nurses, physician assistants and other professionals.
• Patient-Centered Medical Home – Centralizing care at a single clinical setting focused on the patient will improve provider efficiency and satisfaction and increase patient access.
• Expanded Sites of Care – Offering primary care services at retail clinics, worksites and in the home will increase the accessibility and continuity of care for patients, particularly those with chronic illnesses.
• Health Information Technology – Properly implemented, technologies such as electronic medical records and computerized prescription ordering will free up physician time during visits, provide timely access to information and aid in the overall coordination of care.
• Improved Pay-for-Performance – Redesigning the system to pay for quality will shift the focus away from paying for episodic care.
• Medical Education Changes – Reforms to medical education, including loan forgiveness for students pursuing primary care and teaching medical students to work as part of a team, will foster more primary care practitioners better equipped to respond to patient needs...

Link to Full Article: http://commonhealth.wbur.org/guest-contributors/2009/06/the-doctor-is-inundated-primary-care-needs-reform-by-wendy-everett-scd/