HUFFINGTON
08.19.12
PROGNOSIS UNCLEAR
of Family Physicians.
The shortage of physicians predates health care reform, which
includes provisions meant to
address it, said Stream. The law
provides scholarships and apprenticeships for medical students who want to be primary
care doctors, he said. In addition,
the reforms raise Medicare and
Medicaid payments for primary
care doctors and facilitate arrangements between physicians,
nurses, nurse-practitioners, physician-assistants and pharmacists
to promote primary care, he said.
CAN HOSPITALS CUT COSTS
WHILE MAKING CARE BETTER?
Hospitals will be at the epicenter when health care reform goes
from being mere legislation, and
fodder for politicians, to the new
reality. Hospitals accounts for
the largest share of U.S. health
care spending — more than doctor bills, prescription drugs or
anything else. In 2010, Americans
doled out $814 billion on hospital
A trauma
room at
the Johns
Hopkins
Hospital.