US health-care crisis.
Access to primary care doctors has been shown in studies across the world to result in better patient outcomes, increased satisfaction with care and lower health-care costs. Primary care is the entry point for most patients into the health-care system and focuses on prevention, chronic care management and availability for sick care. Primary care offices providing continuous, coordinated and accessible care are called medical homes. Changing disease patterns and increased amounts of chronic care has increased the importance of primary care medical homes to the health and well-being of patients. In the USA, however, fewer medical school graduates are entering primary care specialties such as pediatrics, family medicine and internal medicine, and the existing workforce is diminishing as primary care doctors retire as a result of overwork and poor job satisfaction.
Rushton
Francis E
FE
American Academy of Pediatrics, Beaufort, SC 29902, USA. frushton@aap.net
D018166:Health Care Reform; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care; D014481:United States