The author argues that long-term trends point to a future for physician assistants and nurse practitioners as the principal front-line deliverers of primary care, with physicians focusing on managerial duties and specialty care.
Rachel O. Reid, MD, MS and Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPH
An effective policy regarding retail clinics in a primary care practice should address patients' need for timely and convenient acute care and build capacity for enhanced access to acute care within the primary care clinic itself.
Increased use of emergency departments for primary care puts undue burden on EDs; however, EMTALA obligates EDs to provide care to patients regardless of their ability to pay.
Physicians should use evidence-based guidelines as a starting point to make sound clinical treatment decisions for a patient's individual medical needs.
Physicians should use evidence-based guidelines as a starting point to make sound clinical treatment decisions for a patient's individual medical needs.
Physicians should use evidence-based guidelines as a starting point to make sound clinical treatment decisions for a patient's individual medical needs.