Attorney, philanthropist and health care activist Deborah Goldberg last night called for medical students to become primary care physicians and praised recent Massachusetts legislation that would shift focus from specialty medicine to primary care.
Goldberg, at a talk sponsored by the Tufts Pre−Medical Society, called for legislators to allow primary care physicians, who treat patients for common medical problems, to take back control of industry practice from insurers and specialists.
General practitioners, she said, are more knowledgeable of preventative health measures and better able to help patients avoid future health problems and costs, she said.
"I think we're going to see the general public healthier if we have enough primary care physicians who are able to take care of people and realize they may be developing a condition ahead of time, whereas a specialist may just put them on a drug that [treats] it," Goldberg said.
Goldberg, who ran for lieutenant governor of Massachusetts in 2006, said that a return to a focus on primary care should be a part of proposed legislative reforms to the health care system, especially in Massachusetts.
Goldberg is the chairman of the Board for the adoption agency Adoptions with Love and a trustee at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital.
She praised the legislation proposed last month by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) that would head the state's health care system in the direction of a global payment scheme, in which doctors would be paid for the quality, not the quantity, of the care they provide.
"The patient will be given an ‘X' amount of dollars to be spent in a year and the primary care physician is going to control how it's spent. That's who's going to know you best and that's who's going to spend the most time trying to keep you healthy," Goldberg said. "Isn't it better to put your life in the hands of someone who has a connection to you?"
This new system would give primary care physicians more control over the way in which their patients are treated, a larger client base and more opportunities to practice effective medicine, according to Goldberg. Doctors would also ultimately make more money, she said.
"Primary care physicians are going to have tremendous practices because they're going to be the go−to people; they're going to control the purse strings," Goldberg said. "That's where the power is going to be."
Goldberg said that proposed national budget cuts would exacerbate the high cost of health care.
"What the conservatives don't understand is that someone has to pay for it, and that ends up being tax payers," Goldberg said. "Republicans should be for something that is going to break the cycle of a system that is costing people so much money."
Goldberg doubted the feasibility of a single−payer health care system in which one government−run organization would be in charge of all health care fees and payments.
"You will never see the single−payer system in this country; it's not the culture," Goldberg said.
