Doctors For America

Submitted as a Letter to the Editor:

In the hospital where I work, I have the same conversation a few times a week, where I ask patients why they are not taking the medications to treat their high blood pressure, why their diabetes is poorly controlled at home, or why, despite their heart disease, they continue to smoke.

It is easy to label these patients as “non-compliant” with medical advice. However, more often than not the problem lies not with the patients, but with the ineffective healthcare system they have to navigate to manage their chronic diseases. After all, who enjoys going to the emergency room for conditions that are easily controlled with medications and guidance from a primary care provider? Nobody. Yet throughout the country, an unacceptably high number of hospital and emergency room admissions are due to poorly treated chronic illnesses such as asthma, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

The cost of these admissions (in dollars, lost productivity and quality of life) could be mitigated if more patients had access to quality primary care. Increasing incentives for care coordination; rewarding health organizations for implementing disease management and preventive programs; providing incentives to primary care providers who practice in underserved and rural areas; promoting the adoption of electronic health records; and increasing funding for federally-qualified health centers are some of the ways to strengthen our primary care infrastructure. These changes should be complemented by extending coverage to the uninsured and those with pre-existing conditions, and by ensuring that people do not lose their insurance if they become unemployed.

Many of these fixes are already part of the bills the House and Senate passed weeks ago. These are not radical proposals. Our health system needs these improvements, and we must demand from our lawmakers that they work together to pass healthcare reform. Otherwise, I and thousands of my colleagues across the country will continue to have the same conversations with our patients for years to come.