A primary care physician (PCP) is a doctor that provides basic and routine care. Internists, family doctors, pediatricians, and OB/GYNs all are considered to be primary care physicians.
In some parts of the country — like in Berkshire County, Massachusetts — there are shortages of primary care doctors.
When there aren’t enough doctors practicing primary care in a certain area, patients have a hard time finding open appointments — waiting weeks and sometimes months to get care.
“If you can’t find a primary care doctor or you are pregnant and can’t find an OB/GYN, you don’t have access to care. We are trying to eliminate that problem, ” said John Auerbach, the commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
Why are there PCP shortages in Massachusetts? With the current law mandating health insurance coverage for all residents, primary care doctors are getting paid less and seeing more patients, reported the Berkshire Eagle.
Another problematic trend, reported the WSJ Health Blog, is that new doctors tend to open practices where there are already plenty of physicians in the area.
State Legislature and the Department of Public Health are working on bills to provide payment incentives for doctors to open primary care practices in underserved communities. They are also planning to push in-state universities to expand primary care programs.
Another legislative idea would offer work visas to more foreign doctors who are opening practices counties such as Berkshire, wrote the Eagle article.
While these proposals are still in the early stages of development, state officials and legislators consider the shortage of primary care physicians an important issue to tackle.
“What we will try very hard to do is take [the primary care shortage] seriously, think through what is the right action step in response to what somebody is raising and make a commitment[.] ” added Auerbach.