T. R. Reid is the author of 13 books, including The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care (Penguin Press). He has worked as a correspondent on several PBS documentaries on health care and was a foreign correspondent for The Washington Post and NPR.
Medical schools also have a role to play. It’s no secret that the schools have emphasized specialties, with faculty members often steering their best students into narrow fields. But schools could promote an atmosphere in which primary care is treated as the most desirable destination for new doctors. Actively seeking out, and accepting, applicants who say they want to practice primary care is another key tool the medical schools could employ to deal with this national problem.
More doctors in primary care would mean better health care at lower cost for American patients. It’s long past time to take the steps needed to reach that goal.
