I decided i want to go into primary care a while ago, but recently I have been reading many articles about their pay decreasing and doctor nurses taking over their job and a whole bunch of other stuff. I thought job security would come with going to med school, doing residency, the whole process. Now im scared that after I complete everything, I won't be able to find a job. Is this a legitimate thing to worry about?
I cannot imagine anytime in the near future that a PCP would have a tough time locating a job, particularly in or near a midsized city. The issue likely would be more about the financial side; will you as a PCP be able to see sufficient paying patients to take home enough to pay those student loans? Doing so will likely mean setting some rules regarding # of patients with no insurance (presuming limited ability to pay) and with medicare or other types of insurance that may not pay enough to cover your office expenses (again, presuming you have a nurse, front office admin, rent expense, and similar costs that must be paid). If I were going this route, I'd look seriously at what different healthcare professionals (nurse practioner, physician assistant, medical assistant, etc) can do, and likely hire several in my office. This would be just so you as the PCP are not the first one in to see the kid with a runny nose or splinter. May make sense oversee a number of PAs and others as the provider who sees the most complicated cases rather than see everyone as the first point of contact, PAs in our area earn upper 60's to start, if you had a few on staff your office could see more low-reimbursement patients and depending on how you structure things, your salary could be higher. High salary is not the endall, but it's essential to your patients that you earn enough to make it worth your while to continue your practice.
Idk about everyone else but when I go to a Dr office I expect to see a doctor and actually have him sit down with me, not a PA. The most successful (i.e. paying patients that keep coming back) PCPs are the ones who make their patients feel like they are valuable to them, who then go out and advertise by experience ("my dr. sees me within a few minutes of me arriving and never makes me feel rushed and answers all my questions, etc etc"). Taking on too many patients that you can personally handle and relegate out to others is bad taste and business IMO.
Personally, no, I don't think it is. Not only is it hard to predict just what's going to happen by the time you get there, but I'd imagine that there is a decent chance that you might find you want to do something entirely different. That said, I'm also interested in FM, and I don't worry about it excessively. I kind of figured I'd get there when I get there.
Who knows... in the future, reimbursement rates could completely change and the PCPs may be striking it rich
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