The United States Department of Health and Human Services
Health Resources and Services Administration has designated more than half the
states in the U.S. as Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Areas. Does this scare you?
While the reasons for this shortage are many and complex,
one reason for this shortage is that health care providers in this group are
paid significantly less than specialists.
The low pay leads to fewer physicians going into primary and the need
for some primary care providers to move to other practices more frequently in
order to earn more money.
This is a problem for all healthcare consumers, but it
puts persons with disabilities in a particularly difficult position.
Optimal healthcare is usually achieved through a partnership
between the patient and healthcare provider.
This partnership takes time to establish. This partnership then directs the tone and
direction of other services. Then, of
course, it is left up to the primary care provider to write referrals and
prescriptions and letters of necessity for these other services. When a person cannot connect with a primary
care physician or when primary care physicians come and go, this relationship
is disrupted, sometimes for several years at a time, leaving a significant gap
in needed continuity of care.
Persons with disabilities often have to manage several
some complex healthcare needs. With a
primary healthcare provider that has become a trusted partner in this
management, it’s possible to stay ahead of these needs to set up contingency
plans for dealing with them before they get out of hand. Losing a trusted partner in this management
can lead to problems that would be otherwise preventable. This gets even more complicated when a person
with a disability needs a referral to a specialist in order to satisfy some
insurance requirement and getting a referral from a stranger who has not had
the chance to understand the need is delayed.
This shortage then sets up a bad relationship since the
person with a disability needs to push to get needs met before problems get
worse. Nobody wins.
I will comment on the cost implications of this shortage
in another post.
Annette Bourbonniere
401-846-1960
Fax: 401-846-1944
Twitter:
@AccessInclude
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