This commentary is by: Rebecca Bell, MD, president of the Vermont Medical Society; Breena Holmes, MD, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics VT Chapter; Anne Morris, MD, president of the Vermont Academy of Family Physicians; Priscilla Carr, MD, governor of the American College of Physicians VT Chapter
As primary care clinicians and physician leaders, we listened with interest as Dr. Bruce Hamory presented to the Green Mountain Care Board this week a lengthy analysis of the current challenges facing Vermont’s health care system and presented solutions to help lower costs and increase access to essential services. We are still digesting the 144-page report, and we do agree with some of the statewide recommendations like the importance of increasing affordable housing and supporting Emergency Medical Services.
We fundamentally disagree, however, with one finding of the report — that Vermont has enough primary care clinicians and that we can fix our access issues in primary care by limiting primary care appointments to 20 minutes and requiring clinicians to see three patients per hour. Continue reading..