Rest in peace, primary care
Destroyed Priority of Primary Care The corporatization of medicine has destroyed primary care as a specialty. The primary care physician is supposed to be your go-to doctor, your advocate, the coordinator of your health care. Now that corporations buy out hospitals and private practices in an almost predatory fashion, the priority is turning a profit for the corporation at the expense of not only patient health but also the health and well-being of the primary care physician. Who do you think bears the brunt of patient frustration and public misconception? The PCP. Patients actually accuse salaried primary care physicians of being greedy, “that’s why you don’t spend enough time” during those seven-minute visits. The reality is that in corporatized medicine, the physicians don’t make the rules. More often than not, hospital administrators with no clinical background or experience dictate how these practices are run. They decide how many patients you need to see in a day to turn a...