Good things happen when we increase access to primary care

ABC News recently highlighted the Mayo Clinic's efforts to increase access to primary care and reduce inappropriate use of the emergency department and urgent care among its employees. Mayo created a new department "for the whole family" that combines family medicine, pediatrics and internal medicine, it invested in six new family medicine centers, it opened an express care clinic in a shopping mall, and it used PAs and NPs to see patients at night and on the weekend.

The result? Between 2006 and 2008, Mayo's insurance costs for its employees increased 0 percent. For the average employer, insurance costs increased 5 percent to 7.7 percent per year during the same period.

ABC News medical editor Tim Johnson had this to say:

"Hooray for the Mayo Clinic, but the trend in the country is going in the wrong direction. Most industrialized countries have a balance of 50 percent-50 percent, generalists and specialists. In this country, it’s 70 percent specialists, 30 percent generalists. We’re heading in the wrong direction. Primary care is going down the tubes in this country, and that means we can never have true health care reform unless we change it."

When asked by anchor Charlie Gibson “Why is primary care so critical to saving money?” Johnson replied:

“Because these are the doctors and associates – nurse practitioners and physician assistants – who know the patient and the family, who follow them, who can therefore make wise decisions about what to spend money on, what not to spend money on, how to use preventive medicine, how to control and coordinate chronic disease, and that all saves money. Costs go down, and quality goes up.”

Watch the video here.

Posted at 09:18AM Apr 13, 2009 by Brandi White  |  Comments[0]