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Family Care Center Dr. Jindra, Dr. Poore, Dr. Jordan
Family Practice Physicians
Health care reform is one of the objectives for the Presidential candidates this next year. Equal access to basic health care, cost control and quality assurance through accepted standardization of care are the goals we are trying to reach. Americans are open to legislation that will control the gross imbalances in health care: excessive health care for some versus little or none for many; an oversupply of subspecialist physicians versus a lack of primary care physicians; and excessive costs for even the most common of health problems. Family physicians are the key to correcting these imbalances. Today, a combination of forces – the public, the government and academic medicine – is calling for more family physicians. Newspapers and magazines are carrying stories that call for more family physicians. A life insurance company, in a letter to policyholders, advises “establishing a relationship with a family doctor” as a means of controlling health care costs. Of course, the managed care model that is sweeping American health insurance requires such a relationship. Patients increasingly require a personal physician who will be an advocate, guiding them through the complexities of a high-tech health care system. Also, people now recognize that primary care physicians can have a real impact on reducing health care expenditures by overseeing care that is responsible and appropriate. Many of the top students in medical school choose to specialize in family medicine. Young family physicians have set up practices in rural America and are providing all the skills that their patients require. In urban areas, family physicians are assuming leadership of multispecialty groups and health maintenance organizations. Family practice medicine is proving to be more effective at what people go to physicians for: help to get well, to feel well or to suffer as little as necessary.
-- parts taken from an editorial by Joseph E. Scherger
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