BMJ  2006;332:320 (11 February), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7537.320-b

News

US primary care is on verge of collapse, says doctors' body

New York

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The American College of Physicians believes the US primary care system is nearing collapse, blaming problems with payments to doctors and the fact that young doctors are choosing more lucrative specialties over internal medicine.

The college released proposals on 30 January for sweeping reforms. It warned that, if they were not enacted, "within a few years there will not be enough primary care physicians to take care of an ageing population with increasing incidences of chronic diseases."

The college called for policy makers to evaluate a new way of financing and delivering primary care, which they have called the "advanced medical home" model.

This new approach would use health information technology and other innovations to provide comprehensive and coordinated preventive care. The emphasis would be on working with patients to manage chronic conditions successfully, rather than merely intervening during an acute episode, something which the current method of reimbursement tends . . . [Full text of this article]

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