Obama administration looking for primary care doctors — MedCity morning read, April 27

The Obama administration is counting on primary care doctors to look after aging Baby Boomers and millions of uninsured people who would gain health coverage under legislation it is championing.

So the administration is alarmed by a shortage of front-line doctors who are the main source of health care for most Americans, according to the New York Times.

The administration is so concerned about the dwindling numbers that it is considering boosting Medicare reimbursements to primary care physicians — at the expense of pricey specialists, the Times said.

Family care doctors and internists are pushing for more Medicare money, but lobbying groups for other types of doctors are pushing back. All the pushing may frustrate the Obama administration’s goals to rein in the nation’s galloping health care costs, the Times said.

The administration may succeed in drawing more medical students into primary care by raising government reimbursements. But that also likely would raise — not lower — the cost of health care.

More stories worth a read:

• Wright State gets $718,000 for medical research (Dayton Daily News)
• OSU lab in Wooster to handle risky viruses (Columbus Dispatch)
• Ohio’s first case of swine flu confirmed in Elyria boy, 9; Ely Elementary School closes (Cleveland Plain Dealer)
• Swine flu’s next move impossible to predict (Los Angeles Times)
• Cleaner water through biotech? 349Q kills water-b0rne microbes with RNAi (Xconomy Boston)
• Lack of seed cash may drive out biotech firms (Phoenix Business Journal)
• Hospitals cutting services, staff amid recession (Boston Globe)
• Economic downturn taking toll on patients and community hospitals serve: new survey finds (PR Newswire)
• Adult stem cells may help treat multiple sclerosis (MedPage Today)
• FDA clears Johnson & Johnson’s successor to the blockbuster arthritis drug Remicade (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune/Associated Press)

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