Quote:
Originally Posted by Villages PL
I believe the plan is to assign the healthier patients to see a physician's assistant. How PAs would be used in the system was not disclosed and some people are only just learning about it now. The ballyhoo was about getting the best doctors from all over the country. And that's why so many people rushed to join up. If you have multiple serious health issues you will see a doctor, as you should. But if you are relatively healthy, you are not going to see Dr. welby. You are going to see Dr. Welby's assistant.
That, in my opinion, is how they will deal with the "huge overhead". A physician's assistant should be able handle at least a couple thousand patients and will recieve a lot less money than a doctor. And if anyone complains about being in the care of a PA, they will say, "instead of complaining, you should be happy that you don't have any serious health issues."
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Skyguy79, I'm not saying that the above is going to be a hard-and-fast rule in all cases. No doubt there will be variations of it, depending on the doctor and depending on what patients ask for or demand. But the PAs are there for a reason and I believe it is to take some of the workload off of the doctors. This way they can handle many more patients than what was stated in the beginning. And this is part of the secret of how they will make it work financially.
A lot of people will be shy to ask for or demand a doctor if they think they might not need one. Some may think it looks like a rejection of the PA. And if they do ask for a doctor, they will probably get less time than if they see a PA. So the choice will likely be between getting a more knowledgeable person (a doctor) and getting "the bums rush" or getting more time but with a less knowledgeable person (a PA).