Primary Care Still Not Primary Choice Among Med Students

This week, the Wall Street Journal Health Blog discussed the continued disinterest medical students have in the primary care sector. In a study recently published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, med students were surveyed in 1990 and 2007 about their attitudes towards internal medicine careers.  According the WSJ, the study “finds that while about the same percentage of med students — 23% in the earlier survey of 1,244 students, and 24% in the later survey of 1,177 students — plan internal med careers, the proportion planning to go into primary care fell to 2% from 9%.” Additionally, “the appeal of primary care as a reason to go into internal medicine fell to 33% from 57%.”

As the healthcare landscape has shifted in recent years, the appeal of primary care has too. Lower pay, longer hours, more patients, limited Medicare reimbursements and little interaction with patients is reason enough to go into specialty medicine. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Concierge medicine allows primary care physicians to have control over their careers. With fewer patients, physicians can enjoy a normal work-life balance. With less insurance and Medicare paperwork, doctors can spend time with their patients, getting to know them, their health history and wellness goals. SignatureMD wants to help make primary care physicians empowered once again and reassure them that they can practice medicine the way it’s meant to be practiced.

Click here to learn more about SignatureMD’s model of personalized medicine.

About SignatureMD

SignatureMD is one of the nation’s largest firms providing initial conversion and ongoing support services to concierge medicine physicians. SignatureMD currently partners with over 200 affiliated primary care physicians and specialists across 35 states, and its network is rapidly expanding.