What key issues face family physicians today?
Let me note a few concerns. • * Family physicians wrestle with Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement issues, regulatory burdens and malpractice coverage. Also, we need to increase the “match” between our family practice residencies and residency candidates. • * The cultural landscape in America is changing dramatically, with many more minorities than before. We need to help our patients bridge the health literacy gap and better understand how they can improve their health. • * We ourselves need to keep bridging the digital divide. Many patients and health professionals are becoming more comfortable with technology, more creative with it, and the results are exciting. For example, in the last 12 years, in the Navy, I only occasionally wrote a prescription by hand. • * Also, getting health coverage for all Americans is critical. Our AAFP plan, “Assuring Health Care Coverage for All,” can be the means for solving the crisis of the uninsured and underinsured in our country. What do patients
