NEJM Perspective Calls for More Technical Assistance to Reorganize Primary Care Practices
NEJM notes that HIT Regional Extension Centers called for in ARRA to assist practices and hospitals in implementing HIT are based on Department of Agriculture’s Cooperative Extension Service which combines federal, state, state university experts, and farmers. In June 25, 2009 issue of New England Journal of Medicine, Thomas Bodenheimer, MD, and Kevin Grumbach, MD, from University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine; and Robert A. Berenson, MD, Urban Institute; present three areas of focus needed to revitalize primary care with the goal of transforming primary care practices into “modernized medical homes.” Authors state that national policies are required to rescue primary care from its inability to attract enough primary care practitioners due to lower pay, stress of “more work at less pay,” and “medical education favors training in non-primary care fields.”
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/360/26/2693
Primary-Care Doctor Shortage May Undermine Reform Efforts
Washington Post’s Ashley Halsey III reported on June 20, 2009, that “Fixing the problem (of a shortage of primary care physicians) will require fundamental changes in medical education and compensation to lure more doctors into primary-care offices, which already receive 215 million visits each year.”
Blumenthal Pledges EHR Support for Small Physician Practices
“National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal said the federal government would pay special attention to individual physicians and small group practices as it works to implement the health IT provisions of the federal economic stimulus package,” based on reporting from CongressDaily that iHealthBeat summarized on June 25, 2009. Blumenthal also discussed regional extension programs to support implementation of EHRs and said he would set up listening sessions nationwide.
Here’s the the orginal reporting from Andrew Noyes, CongressDaily on nextgov.com, a National Journal Group site. Hearing by “the House Small Business Regulations and Healthcare Subcommittee, which heard from pediatricians, optometrists and others who fear they could be disadvantaged when the government doles out about $17 billion in Medicare and Medicaid bonuses, grants and technical assistance.”
Do Small Practices Lack Resources for Quality Upgrades?
iHealthBeat also pointed out reporting from John Commins for HealthLeaders Media on June 24, 2009: “Small medical practices provide nearly 75% all ambulatory care in the United States, yet many lack the resources to improve the quality of care delivered or install electronic health records to serve an increasingly diverse patient mix, according to a report released today by the National Committee for Quality Assurance.”
National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Report on Small Physician Practices
Recommends HITECH Act Regional Centers should give priority to “certain types of providers including individual or small group practices focused on primary care and providers that serve uninsured, undreinsured and medically underserved individuals.”
Supporting Small Practices: Lessons for Health Reform Topic Page
Press Release
Report
Presentation Slides pdf
