In California, Facing Down a Family Physician Shortage

A little inspiration

After spending the last four weeks in the hospital, I confess that I returned to my office this week a bit disilusioned, wondering whether the current health reform will actually create real change in the system to support people's healthier choices. The level of illness and care needs in the hospital is so severe, it can be a bit overwhelming. It's difficult to contemplate a healthier community within the four walls of an acute care facility like a hospital. Needless to say, I missed being an active member of my community, and I have to admit I was feeling rather un-inspired.

So I flew to Denver, Colorado this week to attend the American Academy of Family Physicians' annual Scientific Assembly, and opportunity to do continued medical learning and to network with family docs across the country regarding best practices, quality improvement, and community health work. Dr. Regina Benjamin, "America's Doctor" as the current US Surgeon General, gave our keynote speech. She herself is a family physician, and her speech got me right back where I needed to be: inspired about change, and excited to work towards that change. How many times in the last 5 years have we heard a cabinet member speak the phrases "social determinants of health," "poverty as a health indicator" and "food desert"? I am particularly excited to hear what my colleagues are doing in their own medical offices to address these issues during this conference, and Dr. Benjamin got us off to a great start.

I hope to share some of my experiences at the AAFP conference on this blog in the next few entries. In the meantime, for more information about Dr. Benjamin's Vision for a Healthy and Fit Nation, visit the website of the Office of the Surgeon General, or read the report.

You are what you eat

This past week, I was listening to National Public Radio during a rare lunch break. I was pleasantly surprised to catch a 20 minute segment discussing child nutrition and the fact that nearly 17 million children struggle with hunger on a daily basis.

Several guests were invited to offer their perspective about hunger, nutrition and healthy eating during the NPR program. What interested me most, however, was the discussion about food deserts. This phrase was coined to describe a community or district with little or no access to foods needed to maintain a healthy diet. Often, these areas are served by plenty of fast food restaurants, but offer little to no access to fresh fruits, vegetables, or healthy grains. This concept has been gaining ground and is becoming more familiar in daily vocabulary. It has also become a real issue during my daily work as a doctor.

That same afternoon I listened to the NPR program, a woman came into my office for a follow-up visit about her diabetes. Although she is currently on medication to help control her blood sugar, part of our plan to help improve her long term health has been to begin weekly exercise, and to eat a healthier diet. As we discussed her current weight loss plans, she told me how she struggled to prepare healthy meals each day. She described making the difficult choice between buying more expensive fresh spinach compared to the frozen variety, and how she alternated weeks driving to the farmer's market across town to buy fruits, vegetables and whole grains. The rest of the month she would save gas and money buying the cheaper microwave meals in order to meet her budget. It seems that despite her best efforts, she was constantly struggling to make the healthy choice which could improve her health.

This story is a familiar one, to health professionals, teachers and social service workers nationwide. As a doctor, a lot of my work is focused on helping my patients manage their own expectations and their activities where healthy living is concerned. As the medical community continues to develop treatments for chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease, I am finding that access to healthy foods is a necessary complement to the care I give my patients.

Several efforts are in progress to address this issue, but in my opinion, the most important and real change is within local communities. Eliminating food deserts can be a struggle for inner city communities, or in districts where local public transportation is sparse. However, knowing where the healthy food is sold is a good first step. If you are interested in finding local farmer's markets, or alternative sites to buying healthy foods, check out Local Harvest, a site that enables you to locate fresh food in your community. Sites like this one also offer recipes, meal plan suggestions, and additional links to help you take advantage of local farmer's offerings.

You can catch the NPR program mentioned above, or read the transcript yourself, at NPR's website (click on this link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128671673).

Prevention, smart growth and walkability

I recently returned from a very interesting few months working in the hospital, and traveling to various conferences around the country. The topic at many of these meetings was, of course, health reform. It is no secret that I am a big fan of much of what is in the legislation, especially the emphasis on preventive health care, and funding for primary care to assist patient in the treatment of chronic disease.

Part of the reason I am so excited about the national push for prevention is because our country continues to move slowly towards becoming the most overweight nation in the world. Our rates of heart disease and diabetes are sky rocketing. It is my hope that funding for preventive care can help get our health back on track.

However, it is going to take more than national legislation to reduce our collective body mass index. This was never so apparent to me as when I recently attended a two-day conference in Washington DC. I began my trip reading more about the Let's Move Campaign, an ambitious federal program aimed to reduce childhood obesity by promoting physical activity and healthful eating in schools. Motivated by the opportunity to meet some of the people behind the creation of the program, I eagerly reviewed the action plan. Seeing the words "food desert" and "complete street" in a national policy brief was exciting - especially since many dedicated community members, academic researchers and patient advocates have been using this terminology for decades without much national attention.

I was properly motivated as I deplaned in DC, and being a fan of public transportation, I decided to do as much walking as possible in our nation's capitol and really embrace the spirit of Let's Move. I decided to keep track of my efforts and see just how easy it was to stay physically active while on a highly scheduled two-day business trip.

I had no trouble walking through National Airport, and made it to the METRO train (conveniently located across the street from the airport) without incident. One fifteen minute ride later and I had arrived in Alexandria, Virginia. I had just a short 10 minute walk to the place I would be staying, but this walk proved rather difficult in a business suit and suitcase. A sidewalk was available for the first three minutes of my walk, but then ended abruptly at the busiest intersection in town, without a cross walk in sight. Undeterred, I continued along the safest side of the street, half in grass and half in dirt. I eventually made it to another section of sidewalk, which then took me to the driveway of my destination.

The remainder of my trip was spent mostly in the downtown areas of DC near the Capitol, where the METRO stops regularly and sidewalks are plentiful. However, my return to the airport again involved a walk along a rather dismal stretch of road that only the bravest of souls would consider traveling with a suitcase. Needless to say, a street complete with sidewalk and bike lane is always welcome.

As the country continues to focus on prevention as a key part of our improved health, many local groups are starting to discuss complete streets, and smarter growth development policies, to make communities safe for outside activity that is not dependent on the automobile. For health professionals like me, who tend to recommend walking as a key activity to promote weight loss and healthy lifestyles, the importance of campaigns like Let's Move and community coalitions supporting smart growth cannot be overstated. If you are curious, you can test the "walkability" of your city or town and find handy routes to exercise or explore. Consider supporting local community efforts; many cities are developing tools for smart growth advocacy to support such change. You can also visit the Let's Move website (see link above) to see how you and your community can get involved! Or, do your own walkability test and see for yourself!

The trouble with Medicaid

Medicaid is the partly state-funded, partly federally-funded health insurance program for low-income families. It's not Medicare - that is the national health insurance for all persons over age 65. The Medicaid program is available state-by-state to certain eligible groups, particularly low-income women, children and their families. In California, the state Medicaid program is called "Medi-Cal," and in 2008, of the 36 million California residents, 16% of the population received health insurance through this program. I happen to think programs like Medi-Cal are important and worthy of state funding. These programs allow women with low income to afford care when pregnant, it allows adults and children to receive basic medical care (vaccines, annual check-ups) and sometimes dental and vision care. However, as you have probably heard, the number of doctors who see patients with Medicaid insurance is decreasing. Why? If a program like this pays for basic health services to women and children in need, why is it such an unpopular program among doctors?

For starters, Medicaid pays doctors far less for providing care than other insurance plans. To add insult to injury, Medicaid fees paid in California were 83% of the Medicaid national average in 2008, ranking California 47th overall among states. Doctors also face a significant complexity to providing care to patients with Medicaid, as there are often specific rules, regulations and paperwork that must be completed to get approval for certain types of care. These issues makes the process of care frustrating, and as a result some physicians may choose to stop seeing Medicaid patients, because there is no rule that says doctors must see patients with every type of insurance in their offices. As a result, sometimes patients who are eligible for Medicaid seek care in emergency rooms, where there is a rule (the national EMTALA legislation) that everyone - regardless of insurance - must be cared for. Patients who come into the ER often have multiple chronic diseases that have gotten worse because they have not seen a regular doctor, and this can be frustrating for both patients and docs alike, since it can feel like there is no one but the ER and hospital to care for these patients on a regular basis.

Yet I still see patients with Medicaid insurance in my office. I have always thought it an important thing for me to provide the same care to patients of all income levels and all insurance types. However, my patience for my own philosophy was tested the other day, when a patient of mine came into my office because she was having trouble breathing. Let's call her Ms. Jones.

Ms. Jones has asthma, in addition to 3 other medical conditions for which she takes a total of 8 medications. Ms. Jones has Medicaid insurance, which helps pay for her regular visits with me and for her medications. She tends to have breathing problems in the springtime, when pollen in the air irritates her lungs and can cause an asthma attack. This was the reason she was seeing me in my office the other day. After examining Ms. Jones, I was concerned that she was on the brink of another attack, and so I prescribed a 5-day course of steroids, a relatively inexpensive medication, in addition to her current inhalers in order to treat her condition and prevent worsening of the attack (which could land her in the hospital).

The next day I called the patient to make sure that she was feeling better, and Ms. Jones told me that she tried to get her medications after our visit, but was told by the pharmacy that the 5-day course of steroid medication could not be dispensed because a Treatment Authorization Request (TAR) had to be approved by the state Medicaid office first. She was told her medications would be available in 1 week. I grew more concerned listening to the patient describe that she was feeling more out of breath than she did in my office, and her inhalers weren't helping. Wanting to prevent a serious asthma attack, which could be solved directly with the prescriptions I had ordered yesterday, I told the patient that I would call her right back after speaking with the pharmacist directly. I spoke with the pharmacy, who educated me that because the patient was already on 8 chronic medications, any additional prescriptions (regardless of why they were needed or how long they would be needed) could only be approved by a Treatment Authorization Request to the Medicaid office. The pharmacist suggested I call the Medicaid office directly to request a TAR override.

So, that is what I did next. I spent the next 30 minutes on the phone, talking to pre-recorded machine voices, attempting to speak to a real person and ask how to override a TAR for medications. Finally, I managed to speak with a representative who told me that the state office no longer does TAR overrides. However, she advised me that the pharmacy might be able to release the medications to the patient, as long as the patient was willing to pay cash for the full cost of the prescription. Nevermind that Ms. Jones is on Medicaid because she makes less than $20,000 per year. At this point, I thought to myself that this is exactly why some doctors don't take Medicaid. They don't want to deal with this frustration. It should be easier than this to get a cheap prescription filled for a patient the same day she needs it - rather than sending the patient to the ER to get the same treatment at triple the cost (not to mention the cost of seeing another doctor who would do exactly what I did yesterday).

I called the patient back. She didn't have any extra cash to pay out-of-pocket for her medications, and she was still feeling the same as she was yesterday. Ms. Jones was not in a situation where she needed emergency services, but I worried that if she didn't get her medications in the next day, she might. So I called another pharmacy - a different pharmacy - and as luck would have it, they were willing to provide the patient with the prescription medications and submit an authorization request to Medicaid so that they would get reimbursed next week for the medications they gave the patient that day. Several days later, Ms. Jones is feeling better and I feel good that because of my work, she didn't have to go to the ER.

What was the cost of my time to Ms. Jones for my efforts? I could have just told Ms. Jones to go to the ER, where she would have faced a long wait, a large bill and received the same treatment I prescribed. I don't get paid less if I send my patients to the ER. I don't get paid more if I spend time helping Ms. Jones get her prescriptions. That day, I didn't have the time, but I made the choice to make time because I felt strongly about the treatment I felt the Ms. Jones needed. Not every doctor has the time to do what I did for Ms. Jones, and doctors throughout California continue to withdraw from the Medicaid program. Who then will care for people like Ms. Jones?

This week, a new study sponsored by the California Health Care Foundation will be presented by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and the Medical Board of California, examining reasons behind why doctors stop seeing Medicaid patients. It is due to be presented on March 26th at the Capitol in Sacramento. Let us hope that the information helps lawmakers and health policy leaders understand that doctors like me want to see Medicaid patients, but that choice is made difficult by our experiences. If we truly want to be able to provide good health care, our health system must allow the right choice to be the easy choice for everyone - regardless of insurance.

Support your local general practitioner

As we continue to discuss cost-effective medicine, the need for health insurance reform and other topics du jour, I'd like to take a moment to focus on a rather relevant aspect of health policy. This is a topic that everyone probably has heard about, but one that no one is quite sure how to address. Current evidence suggests health systems focusing on primary care provide greater access to higher quality care and at lower costs. As current health reform continues to be debated, this issue becomes particularly important for primary care physicians seeing the effects of the current system every day. It is one thing to discuss support of health for every American, it is quite another to actually do it - and I'm not talking just about insurance. We need support for physicians who are going to go into general practice - either general internal medicine, general pediatrics, or family medicine. It isn't realistic to expect highly trained specialists to manage multiple social issues and address the complex nature of multiple chronic medical problems for all their patients, but as the majority of medical graduates go onto practice in specialties like cardiology, orthopedics, radiology and anesthesia, there are fewer generalists to go around.

I'd like to make the case that generalists - be they internal medicine docs who see adults, pediatricians who see kids, or family physicians who do both, are best suited to address the health care needs of the majority of patients of all ages and in all geographic areas throughout the United States. In fact, we already know that health systems which emphasize generalist ("primary") care provide higher quality care at lower cost (1, 2). Other studies are finding evidence that obesity and related medical conditions decrease when there are enough generalists practicing in a community (3). Communities in which there is a higher proportion of generalists also benefit from:

• reduced all-cause mortality
• decreased emergency room and hospital utilization rates
• reduced medical waste from unnecessary testing and procedures
  

What is interesting to know is that not all generalists are trained in the same way, and so the number of practicing generalists tends to vary by type of training program. For example, statistics about graduating and practicing physicians demonstrate that the doctors most likely to practice general ("primary care") medicine throughout their careers are family physicians. Approximately 90% of family medicine physicians-in-training ("residents") go on to practice general primary care medicine for their entire careers. For pediatricians, only 75% of pediatrics residents continue to practice primary care, and only 19% of internal medicine doctors continue to practice general medicine while the remaining group of trainees go on to specialties or sub-specialties in particular areas of care like cardiology, nephrology, sports medicine and the like (4). Family medicine is the only discipline where training is exclusively dedicated to primary care. Family physicians receive training in six major clinical areas: pediatrics, internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, psychiatry/neurology, surgery and community medicine. They also receive instruction in geriatrics, emergency medicine, ophthalmology, radiology, orthopedics, otolaryngology and urology. As a result, family physicians are capable of providing a majority of health care that people need on an ongoing basis. These types of physicians are also more likely to practice in underserved areas, like rural areas or inner-city community clinics, where the need is greatest. Our society needs general practitioners. We are not made up of organs only, we are human. We need someone to be looking at the whole picture, someone to help us discuss end-of-life care issues with our families and elderly parents. Someone who can explain why it is important for a family member to see three different doctors to control her diabetes and heart failure. The system is too complex to assume patients can navigate the waters on their own...which may be why patients with chronic conditions often see the progression of their disease as something beyond their own control.

I believe that until we truly support incentives to increase the number of general practitioners, the health needs of our country will continue to go unmet - whether health insurance reform passes or not. I am not suggesting that we choose which areas of medicine students select as their specialty, or even that we require service in primary care of every trainee. What I am suggesting is that we need to recognize that the results of health care personnel shortages, increased need for doctors that practice in rural areas, and increased need for doctors who can care for the elderly and geriatric population, will place a heavy burden on our already crippled health system. We must decide how to address the issue creatively, so that we have an adequate supply of generalists who can treat chronic disease and work with their patients to prevent complications of those diseases. These are not conditions that can be easily fixed by a surgeon or a heart doctor working in a specialty group. We need generalists who can coordinate care for the elderly, who can work directly with social services and other members of the health care team, and who can devote a 15 minute visit to a discussion about quitting smoking or lifestyle changes to increase a persons level of activity. Otherwise, we risk becoming a population of overweight amputees on dialysis as a result of "poorly controlled" chronic disease.

(1) Macinko, J, et al. The Contribution of Primary Care Systems to Health Outcomes Within OECD Countries, 1970-1998. Health Serv Res 2003 June; (3):831-65.
(2) Starfield B, et al. Contributions of Primary Care to Health Systems and Health. The Millbank Quarterly, Vol 83 (3) 2005, 457-502.
(3)Gaglioti A, et al. Primary care's ecologic impact on obesity. Am Fam Physician. 79(6):446.
(4) Althouse, L and Stockman J. Pediatric workforse: a look at general pediatrics data from the American Board of Pediatrics. Journal of Pediatrics 2006, 148(2): 166-9.

Designing our Health

As our Congressional representatives and Senators continue to negotiate and compromise in order to draft a universal piece of health reform legislation, I am reminded of a statement paraphrasing Virchow:

"Medicine, if it is to improve the health of the public, must attend at one and the same time to its biologic and its social underpinnings. It is paradoxic that at the very moment when the scientific progress of medicine has reached unprecedented heights, our neglect of the social roots cripples our effectiveness." (Eisenberg 1984)

These words could not have rung more true than in a recent visit with one of my new patients. For purposes of the example, let us call him Mr. Smith. He is a 40-something gentleman, a 2 pack-a-day smoker, who has never needed to visit a doctor in his adult life until two weeks ago when he could not catch his breath and was running a high fever. Mr. Smith was seen in the emergency room, treated, and told to "follow up with his regular doctor" for further management of his severe obstructive lung disease - likely a consequence of his 30 year smoking history. Fortunately, he had health insurance and the fact that he didn't have a regular doctor was not lost on him.

So he ambled into my office for the first time last week for a check-up. At first glance Mr. Smith was slightly out of breath but an otherwise healthy-looking gentleman, with an athletic physique. As I talked with him, it became clear that he was struggling at his construction job primarily because he could not catch his breath; and his single inhaler was not relieving his symptoms. He told me that he didn't want to quit his job because he would lose his health insurance, but that he was worried that he would get fired if he could not do his duties as a result of his current state of health. He also informed me that he was running out of his medication, but could not afford the $30 co-pay at the pharmacy to pick up his remaining refill. "Doc," he said, "I have to put food on the table and pay the rent, you know."

This is a situation many of us have heard before - either spoken by a politician stumping for votes, or by community members advocating for a better system of care. It is a different feeling entirely when you in a position having a direct effect on another person's health. As I talked with Mr. Smith, I felt that he had two outcomes that I could predict with cold certainty: (1) that he begin to use a (cheap, generic, available) medication which I wanted to prescribe that day, even if that meant sacrificing some other purchase this month, and would therefore receive the treatment he needed; or (2) that he not obtain his medications which would undoubtedly result in another expensive trip to the emergency room. Some of you may be thinking "I bet those cigarettes cost money - couldn't he choose between medicine and cigarettes instead?" The answer, of course, is yes. But does the visit end there? Could I say that to this patient and believe - really believe - that would be enough? That I would have done everything I could for my patient? Yes, it is true that his lung condition is likely due to cigarettes. Yes, he probably could afford the medication if he quit smoking. And yes, I do believe that my patient has a responsibility to himself to make that decision to quit...and I want to help him quit as part of his overall health care plan. But quitting smoking takes time, discipline and - let's face it - hard work. So what to do in the meantime while he works on quitting completely?

The above example is just one of many stories health professionals collect on a daily basis - and it demonstrates just how interconnected our well-being is to all aspects of our society including the health system. In reviewing the national health reform bills with the above story in mind, it occurred to me that our current health system is perfectly designed - to result in the current health outcomes that we see every day:
(1) most health insurance is linked to employee status; so if one gets sick or loses a job, it becomes very difficult and expensive get care, see a regular doctor, or obtain basic health services
(2) as a society we value advances in medical technology that provide quick relief or immediate treatment, so our care is often expensive and less sustainable than cheaper, long-term alternatives
(3) our environment and lifestyles often do not promote our making healthy choices

So, what do we do about it? Do we lose hope in the current process? Do we shrug and say "well, health reform would have been nice, but you can't win 'em all"? The reality is that we must make difficult decisions about how we will use available resources to improve our health. This is the very essence of why national health reform is so important and essential to our welfare. Is it really the best use of our time, energy and money if some of us can afford all kinds of extra health care, and others of us must choose between an office visit with a $40 co-pay and dinner? The fact is that despite what special interests in Washington DC will tell you, most people in our country support health reform once they are made aware of the specifics contained in the legislation (Kaiser Family Foundation 2010). For those of us who have been in a room with someone like Mr. Smith, that fact alone makes all the difference in our hope for a system designed to improve our health.