Will this style of practice result in a greater shortage of primary care physicians, due to the fact that they are not taking as many patients under their care?

No. Fifty percent fewer US medical students are choosing careers in primary care today compared to just ten years ago. Practices like Mountain View can inspire more interest in primary care by showing future physicians a new model of care.

United States senior medical students are avoiding specializing in primary care in favor of specialty training. During medical school, our future doctors see current primary care providers suffering from early burnout, frustration, depression and anger mainly due to increasing loss of control in patient care decisions, loss of respect, and steady decrease in income in spite of increasing hours worked.

These future physicians also see the difficulties primary care doctors face simply getting paid for the services they are allowed to bill. All of these struggles take place in a medical system that does not appreciate the value and savings good primary care services provide to society. Most current primary care physicians are good doctors stuck in a broken system that rewards quantity of care over quality of care.

The Ideal Medical Practices’ new model of health care uses the ideals of low overhead, lower volume, efficiency in office management, and accountability for outcomes of patient care. This innovative group of physicians is currently working on providing real numbers that show the cost savings and improvement in overall chronic care when practices uphold this model of care .

Financially viable and personally sustainable practices that are satisfying to both physician and patient are the only hope for the future of primary care. Dr. Lewis firmly believes that having a robust, viable primary care system in the United States is the only hope for decreasing health care costs and providing all citizens with basic health care services. For more information, click on the links below.

https://idealhealth.wikispaces.com/faq
http://idealmedicalhome.org
http://maps.yourgmap.com/v/c_ne_Ideal_Medical_Practices.html