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CO Commission on Family Medicine Encourages Employees to Use Family Care Medicine

Posted on: Monday, 2 May 2005, 03:00 CDT

The Colorado Commission on Family Medicine wants human resource directors to encourage employees to use family medicine as a way to combat rising health care costs.

Dr. Joel Dickerman, medical director of the Colorado Osteopathic Foundation, argues that family medicine has evolved into preventive care and managing chronic illness, which can help avoid expensive longterm care.

It used to be that family medicine was primarily about acute care, Dickerman said. You didn't see the doc unless you had an issue.

Family medicine practitioners have declined because physicians' salaries are higher in specialty practices, Dickerman said. However, physicians may be attracted to the practice of family medicine if changes are made in the health care system.

You could argue that the system makes money by people being sick, so, if you encourage lifestyle modification, are you biting yourself in the hand? Dickerman asked.

The reality is there won't be a shortage of patients in the near future, and preventive medicine could help people avoid the high costs associated with major illnesses like advanced heart disease, Alzheimer's and cancer, he said.

If health savings accounts catch on, the less expensive avenue of family medicine may be more attractive to patients who have discretionary use of their own funds.

Dickerson rallied around options that embrace individual choices, rather than insurance dictates.

Thirty percent of all health care costs go to insurance administration costs, Dickerson said. Think of what would be saved if there was not a middle person.

Health savings incorporate a myriad of practices.

Personal responsibility, getting back to the basics, appropriate treatment and medication disbursement, addressing the Legislature regarding health issues and educating physicians are all arteries to decreased health costs, said Antonio Prado-Gutierrez, the executive director of the commission.

We don't have a silver bullet, and our health care system is extremely complicated; however, as people get more frustrated, we want to be at the table discussing the issues.

Family care in Colorado's rural areas has improved over the last two years thanks to recruiting and other efforts by the commission, in partnership with the Colorado Association of Family Medicine Residencies.

Almost half of the 65 percent of family medicine residents who decided to remain in Colorado after their residencies ventured into rural or underserved areas to set up their practices. Eleven percent landed in under-served urban areas, while 34 percent set up practice in rural areas.

The commission is also focused on health care access in general and preventive medicine through the promotion of family medicine, which covers a wide array of health care practices, from obstetrics and gynecology to pediatrics to seniors.

(Copyright 2005 Dolan Media Newswires)

Source: Colorado Springs Business Journal, The

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