AAFP, AAMC, Other Groups Collaborate on Primary Care Physician Survey

The Academy and four other medical organizations are collaborating with the Association of American Medical Colleges, or AAMC, on a survey designed to assess the primary care workforce.

The AAMC sent the 2009 Physician Survey on Primary Care to selected family physicians and other primary care physicians last month. The four-page survey consists of 34 questions that ask about the physicians' professional medical activities, work preferences and arrangements, activity levels in the principal practice site, and other background information.

According to Perry Pugno, M.D., M.P.H., director of the AAFP Division of Medical Education, two sections of the survey that may be of particular interest to family physicians address the patient-centered medical home (3-page PDF; About PDFs), or PCMH, and potential primary care workforce shortages.

Physicians included in the survey are asked about their familiarity with the PCMH concept and which, if any, elements they have incorporated in their practice sites, including team-based care, use of clinical performance measures and electronic health records.

Physicians also are asked to rate the potential of 10 different strategies to "expand the U.S. health system's capacity to meet a future increase in demand (for primary care) without compromising quality."

"There are many questions about whether the supply of primary care physicians is adequate and (whether) it (will) be adequate after any health care reform and expanded coverage," Edward Salsberg, director of the AAMC Center for Workforce Studies, told AAFP News Now.

"It's really important for us to have a better understanding of where the primary care physician workforce is in terms of capacity," he added.

According to Salsberg, the information from the survey will be used to prepare a report to inform policy discussions on this issue, as well as to develop a manuscript for peer-reviewed journals. "The information is critical to understand the ability and options for expanding access to primary care," he said.

Specialty-specific data also will be shared with the AAFP and the other groups collaborating in the survey for their analysis, according to Salsberg.

Those groups are the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine and the American Medical Association. Representatives from the groups helped develop the survey and have offered advice on what types of data analysis should be performed.

"It's an unusual collaboration and speaks to the urgency of understanding issues related to the primary care workforce and taking steps to assure an adequate supply," Salsberg said.