By Wendell Potter
Firedoglake, Nov. 27, 2011
Just last week, the 34-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) released the results of its most recent study of the health care systems in the 40 counties considered to be “developed.” It came as no surprise to see that the U.S. health care system — if we can even call it a system — is still by far the most expensive on the planet.
We spend two-and-a-half times more on health care per person than the OECD average. The average expenditure per person in the U.S. is $7,960. The OECD average, by comparison, is just $3,233. Yet we rank 29th in the number of hospital beds per person and 29th in the average length of a stay in the hospital. We have high rates of avoidable hospital admissions for people with asthma, lung disease, diabetes, hypertension and other common illnesses, and we lag behind many other countries on other measures of quality and accessibility.
And when it comes to access to physicians, we’re considerably closer to the bottom than the top. We rank 26th in the number of physicians, especially primary care doctors, per 1,000 people.
All of the bad news for the U.S. in the OECD report is troubling if not shocking, but that last data point — that 25 countries have more physicians per capita than we do — even caught me by surprise.
But after reading Dr. John Geyman’s latest book, “Breaking Point—How the Primary Care Crisis Endangers the Lives of Americans,” I now understand why and how we have sunk so low. Not only does Geyman explain what has happened to our primary care infrastructure over the past several decades, he makes the most compelling case I’ve read anywhere about the urgency of rebuilding it. He also suggests ways we can do it.
If you’re not acquainted with Geyman, you should be. He is one of the wisest and most prolific writers about health care in America. “Breaking Point” is his 12th book and follows another must-read: “Hijacked: The Road to Single Payer in the Aftermath of Stolen Health Care Reform.”
As you can tell by the title of that book, Geyman is not a big fan of the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. “Obamacare.” While he notes that the reform law will expand access over the next several years, “it will not make a dent in the primary care crisis.”
In fact, he goes on, “the 32 million Americans who gain some kind of insurance coverage between now and 2019 will find it more difficult than ever to find a primary care physician. Insurance without a physician — how much of a gain is that?”
A former Republican country doctor, Geyman writes that when he graduated from medical school in 1960, there already was a growing shortage of general practitioners, but not nearly as severe as today. In 1960, 18 percent of U.S. doctors were in general practice. By 2000, the number had fallen to 12 percent, and it continues to spiral downward because of the many disincentives in the U.S. for medical students to go into primary care.
Those disincentives have led to primary care physicians becoming an endangered species.
“Specialization, subspecialization and sub-subspecialization are increasingly taking over the physician workforce,” he writes. “The reasons for these changes have much to do with money and the business of medicine. The decline in generalist medicine and primary care is inexorable with present policies in health care, and present trends signal a disaster unfolding.”
That disaster is indeed unfolding, although you’d hardly know it from the politicians and pundits who are more interested in ideology and the gamesmanship of reform than truly addressing the problems with workable solutions. And while the far-reaching reforms that are needed have so far been beyond the ability of lawmakers to enact—also having to do with money and the business of medicine—the disaster that is unfolding is increasingly being felt by American families.
Because of increases in population and the dwindling supply of general practitioners, more and more Americans are unable to find a personal primary care physician for themselves or their family. As a result, Geyman writes, their care has become increasingly expensive and fragmented.
Why does primary care matter? Geyman lists several reasons. Patients with regular access to primary care doctors receive more preventive services, and they have fewer preventable emergency room visits and hospital admissions. Because they get to know their patients well over time, primary care doctors order fewer tests than specialists, and they help protect their patients from inappropriate, unnecessary and expensive over-utilization of specialist services.
Having primary care leads to earlier diagnosis and treatment of illnesses, enhancing quality and outcomes of care. Primary care doctors are also ideally suited to coordinate care for patients who need multiple specialists. And studies have shown that patients with an ongoing relationship with a primary care doctor are more compliant with treatment.
Geyman believes, and I agree, that primary care must be at the heart of a transformed U.S. health care system — and it ultimately will be transformed because the status quo is not sustainable. And, like me, he is an optimist — transformation not only is possible, it is inevitable.
Toward the end of “Breaking Point,” Geyman provides us with “ten lessons for primary care and health policy” that every reform advocate and every lawmaker truly interested in reform should read. Only someone with Geyman’s knowledge as a physician in private practice for decades and a renowned scholar of health care systems around the world could develop what essentially is a roadmap out of our unfolding disaster.
The last of those ten lessons is especially important for advocates who were disheartened and disillusioned when Congress passed the Affordable Care Act because of its shortcomings and the fact that it gives the insurance industry a renewed lease on life. Lesson #10: “The fight for sustainable and accountable health care can be a long one, but it can be won in the end by those prepared to keep at it.”
“Breaking Point” is worth reading not only to get a better understanding of the value of primary care but also Geyman’s wise counsel, reality-based optimism and challenge for us to stay in the fight and never give up. “We can all make a difference if we choose to do so,” he concludes. “Let’s go for it!”
Indeed. It’s time for all of us to rally, especially with the fate of the Senate and White House at stake.
http://fdlbooksalon.com/2011/11/27/fdl-book-salon-welcomes-john-geyman/