The PMD Critical List: Obamacare Makes Primary Care Docs Want to Quit

A new study finds nearly half of all primary care physicians in private practice are thinking about leaving medicine due to low reimbursements. That story tops this week’s PMD Critical List. Also on the list: A doctor’s secret contribution to baseball, and a major shortage of pathologists weighs down coroner’s offices.

• Obamacare Makes Most Private Practice Doctors Want to Quit (Business Wire)

According to a new CompHealth study, 45% of private practice physicians are inclined to leave the medical profession because of the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Why? More than 85% believe they are not properly compensated for their time by ACA reimbursements.

• Top Doctor Group Issues Call to Combat Climate Change (US New & World Report)

The American College of Physicians is calling for aggressive, concerted action to fight climate change by curbing man-made greenhouse gas emissions. “Many of the conditions that are likely to be worsened or caused by a warming planet are conditions that are typically seen by internists,” says the ACP president.

• Doc Adams: Great Baseball Benefactor (USA Today)

Daniel Lucius "Doc" Adams may never be a household name like baseball's imagined inventor Abner Doubleday. But newly verified documents, titled “Laws of Base Ball,” go a long way toward lifting him to legendary status. Credit for 90-feet base paths, nine innings, and nine players belongs to the physician.

• Doctors Dealing with Periods in Space (Engadget.com)

A report about two doctors working with NASA to explore female astronauts’ options when it comes to suppressing their periods in space, especially for long-haul missions. Menstruation was one of the reasons why it took NASA almost two decades after the moon landing to put a woman on a space shuttle mission.

• “Blue-Collar Concierge Medicine” (The Boston Globe)

A report about Massachusetts physicians going to direct primary care—“an offshoot of so-called concierge medicine.” These practices “take the drastic step of bypassing insurance—thus the term “direct.” Patients pay fees, often less than $100 a month, but they avoid copayments and co-insurance for primary care.

• There’s a Shortage of Autopsy Doctors (Los Angeles Daily News)

“Delayed medical examinations, overdue toxicology tests and slow response times are becoming an unacceptable norm,” according to the departing Los Angeles County chief coroner, where some 8,500 autopsies are performed each year. A shortage of pathologists is affecting counties large and small nationwide.

• Nearly Half of Americans Pay No Federal Income Tax (MarketWatch)

An estimated 45.3% of American households—roughly 77.5 million—will pay no federal individual income tax, according to the Tax Policy Center. The top 1% of Americans, who have an average income of $2.1 million+, pay 44% of all the federal income tax.

• Clinician Burnout Epidemic Must be a National Priority (Health Affairs)

“Most physicians are being asked to provide high-quality, compassionate care with less time and resources to effectively engage patients.” And a comprehensive strategy to address doctor burnout at the individual, organizational, and system levels will require a national movement.

• Most Doctors Plagued by Rising Medical Spending (Health Payer Intelligence)

A new survey shows that 64% of doctors are concerned with rising medical spending. This point and several others were derived from a QuantiaMD report. Including: 55% of doctors report that bureaucracy and red tape are the biggest obstacles in the hospital industry and 47% state that providing medical care to an older, aging population is challenging.

• What Drug Ads Don’t Say (The New York Times)

The drug industry spends lavishly for attention—$4.5 billion into so-called direct-to-consumer advertising in 2014, up 30% over two years. Drug-makers claim they are educating the public with their ads, providing information that will help you make better choices about your medical care.” Here a top psychiatry professor does a market review of Latuda, a new antipsychotic medication.