CONTEXT Despite a widespread interest in increasing the numbers of primary care physicians to improve care and to moderate costs, the relationship of the primary care physician workforce to patient-level outcomes remains poorly understood. OBJECTIVE To measure the association between the adult primary care physician workforce and individual patient outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANT...

A major contributor to shortfalls in delivery of recommended health care services is lack of physician time. On the basis of recommendations from national clinical care guidelines for preventive services and chronic disease management, and including the time needed for acute concerns, sufficiently addressing the needs of a standard patient panel of 2,500 would require 21.7 hours per day. The pr...

OBJECTIVES This study assessed whether income inequality and primary care physician supply have a different effect on mortality among Blacks compared with Whites. METHODS We conducted a multivariate ecologic analysis of 1990 data from 273 US metropolitan areas. RESULTS Both income inequality and primary care physician supply were significantly associated with White mortality (P < .01). Afte...

BACKGROUND Although systems strategies are effective in improving health care delivery, little is known about their use for cancer screening in U.S. primary care practice. METHODS We assessed primary care physicians' (N = 2,475) use of systems strategies for breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in a national survey conducted in 2007. Systems strategies included patient and ...

United States medical student choice of careers in the primary care disciplines has waned significantly over the past 15 years. A complex array of factors influence this decline, which has had an adverse effect on the quality and cost of medical care in the United States. Recent data suggest that the ratio of primary care physician income to specialty physician income (the income ratio) may be ...

BACKGROUND An opportunity to address the needs of patients with common mental disorders (CMDs) resides in primary care. Barriers are restricting availability of treatment for CMDs in primary care. By understanding the incentives that promote and the disincentives that deter treatment for CMDs in a collaborative primary care context, this study aims to help contribute to goals of greater access ...

Ensuring that health care teams have a mix of skilled professionals to meet patient need, safely and effectively, is a priority in all health services. The United Kingdom, like a number of other countries, have been exploring the contribution physician assistants, who are well established in the United States of America, can make to health care teams including primary care. This study investiga...

BACKGROUND The accountable care organization (ACO) is a new organizational form to manage patients across the continuum of care. There are numerous questions about how ACOs should be optimally structured, including compensation arrangements with primary care physicians. METHODS Using data from a national survey of physician practices, we compared primary care physicians' compensation between ...