Federal policy has worsened primary doctor shortage.

Posted: Apr 1, 2017

responding to a 2008 Physicians Foundation Survey, about half stated they would consider leaving medicine. A CNN report summarizing the findings stated that “many [primary care physicians] said they are overwhelmed with their practices, not because they have too many patients, but because there’s too much red tape generated from insurance companies and government agencies.”[2] In response, one would have expected that policymakers, when assessing the merits of a proposed healthcare initiative or regulation, would weigh the measure’s likely impact on making primary care practice less burdensome. Yet, such consideration was apparently given little weight when the Health Information Technology for Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was passed as part of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. HITECH broadened the authority of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to utilize pay-for-performance (P4P) programs as a means of physician compensation. Needless to say, HITECH’s passage struck a major blow to physician autonomy. ;