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Will Urgent Care end Primary Care ?


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@gbrothers98 - any medical niche, including primary care, can be all about money. Any system that pushes to maximize volume and minimize provider time with patient is, in my opinion, all about money - and that's far from limited to UC.

 

Walk-in episodic care, including but not limited to true Urgent Care, can also be about respecting the patient's time and providing easy access to care. Episodic care does not equal poor quality. Primary care does not equal good quality. The niche a practice is in does not determine the quality of the care.

 

The paradigm that is de facto changing is the one where getting medical care requires that a patient fit into the provider's schedule - with said schedule generally being during traditional weekday working hours, and appointments available maybe next week, maybe further out. 

 

I believe it's true that having the same medical provider most of the time makes good care more likely. I do a better job with people if I know them over time, even in an episodic care environment. From a patient point of view, I think the best option is a primary care practice that has adequate same-day availability to see patients when they are sick, has weekend and evening hours as a matter of course, and offers scheduled appointments as well. And, of course, when a sick patient calls the front desk they need to be taken care of rather than being told first thing about what the practice CAN'T do for them today.

 

And about this money thing. A practice needs to be about the money in order to take care of patients and staff. Money is not evil, and business is not the work of the devil. Money is the life energy that keeps the practice available to take care of patients. Without money a practice can't pay support staff a living wage, can't give staff/providers what they need to care for themselves in old age, can't keep the doors open for service. Of course it can't ALL be about the money, but money has to be respected as a valid - no, essential - part of the equation.

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