Trying to Put a Value on the Doctor-Patient Relationship

This is an important article in the NY Times Sunday Magazine (May 20, 2018).

In its push for profits, the U.S. health care system has made it difficult for patients to get personal attention from doctors. But what if hands-on medicine actually saves money — and lives?

The question of what the role of a primary-care physician should be, and how it should be valued, has perhaps never been more urgent. That figure, typically a general practitioner, family doctor or internist, is a patient’s first and often most personal connection to the rest of the health care system. But well-known corporations are betting that Americans would prefer to have health care 'delivered' by a trusted brand rather than a trusted physician."

Kim Tingley's  thoughtful piece is a "keeper' worthy of study.

Photos from a famous 1948 Life magazine article on the life of a country doctor.