February 2003 • Volume 9 • Number 2 |
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To the reader Write us a letter of 200 words or fewer (subject to editing). FP Report, 11400 Tomahawk Creek Parkway, Leawood, KS 66211-2672; fax them to (913) 906-6089; call (800) 274-2237, Ext. 5230; or contact fpreport@aafp.org via e-mail. |
To the editor:
I read with interest your article on the Future of Family Medicine project in the December FP Report (quoting AAFP President James Martin, M.D.).
As a private practitioner, chairman of the Lancaster General Hospital's family practice department and a member of the hospital's board of directors, I've seen our medical system from several points of view, and I've occasionally expressed these views to AAFP officials and government officials without response of significance.
Dr. Martin has hit the nail on the head. Our specialty will wither away without immediate response to reimbursement and respect issues. Patients do love us, and we them. But when certified nurse anesthetists earn as much (as family physicians) for a 36-hour week, the lure of radiology or invasive cardiology will be too strong for medical students, and our field will die off to be replaced by physician assistants and certified registered nurse practitioners employed by large subspecialty groups. Please don't let that happen.
J. Clair Hess, M.D.
Lancaster, Pa.
FP Report is
published by the AAFP News Department.
Copyright © 2003 by American Academy of Family Physicians.