The AAFP Blows Another Chance to Promote DPC

The big wigs at the AAFP recently came out with another letter (their “go to” technique) and it said:

“The AAFP maintains that the current regulatory framework with which primary care physicians must comply is daunting and often demoralizing,” the letter stated. “Standardization is not required among public or private payers, and many family physicians participate with 10 or more payers. Physicians spend needless hours reviewing documents and literally checking boxes to meet the requirements of each health insurance plan.”

You can see more information here where they “spell out specific administrative burdens that draw physicians away from patient care, including EHR documentation, prior authorization and the proliferation of quality measures.”

Let’s pretend for a moment that they didn’t agree to allow EVERY ONE OF THESE BURDENS to happen, which they did allow.  Why couldn’t they say something in their letter like:

The AAFP maintains that the current regulatory framework with which primary care physicians must comply is daunting and often demoralizing.  We appreciate the willingness to negotiate and fix this issue, however, if we are unable to work together and change this then we have no choice but to put all our efforts into having our family physicians move into the Direct Primary Care field where they are no longer burdened by ANY of this.

Now doesn’t that sound better?  Wait, wouldn’t a move by family docs into DPC eliminate all the courses and money making schemes used by the AAFP to teach docs about EHR documentation, prior authorizations and quality measures?  Hmmmm…..

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