Departing Doctors: Primary-Care Physician Exodus Strains Health Care System

Summary

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The reimbursement system for physicians in America rewards specialists who perform multiple procedures, such as a surgeon, rather than the primary-care physician who spends most of his or her time visiting with patients, analyzing their health problems and advising them how to manage those problems. [...] as primary-care physicians leave their practices, it's hard to replace them. [...] they ramp up and change the reimbursement system, you won't see many people (going into primary care)....

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Departing Doctors: Primary-Care Physician Exodus Strains Health Care System

HELENA - Physician Kurt Kubicka spent a dozen years as a family doctor in Helena and served as many as 3,000 patients, but decided late last year to leave his private practice.

"It was a very, very difficult decision," he said. "I went into (medicine) anticipating I would continue to do family practice, and it was discouraging that it was becoming less and less viable."

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