The American College of Physicians suggests that you opt out of specialist care and go for the primary care physician. Of course, health insurance companies will love for you to do that, too!
When it comes to choosing between a primary care physician (PCP) or a specialist, you’re often caught between two differing perspectives: 1. You choose the primary care physician for their knowledge of your other conditions, their wide-ranging experience, and their relative low expense when compared to specialists, OR 2. You choose a specialist because of their in-depth understanding of a particular condition and their track record treating a condition. In most cases a PCP will offer personalized health care, while a specialist will generally be less patient-facing.
What does the American College of Physicians suggest? The group believes the feds should pay more upfront for primary care, because doing so would lower costs in the long run by preventing expensive complications and helping patients to avoid hospitalization.
Weighing the Pros and Cons when Making Health Care Choices
Let’s take a look first at the good side to this proposed idea. If more money is given to primary care to begin with, rather than reimbursements later, then people would be getting the best in first-round care right away. Like noted above, this might help stave off the need to even be seen by specialists, if problems are addressed quickly and nipped in the bud before specialists need to step in.
