More Doctors Optimistic About Future Of Medicine

Family doctors are also pushing to change how the nation pays for medical education and are proposing shifting training funds away from hospitals for residencies.

The Wall Street Journal: Doctors: Skeptical About Health Law, Optimistic About Future Of Medicine
Doctors are overextended, skeptical of changes wrought by the federal health law, but more optimistic about the future of medicine than they were two years ago, according to a new survey of 20,000 U.S. physicians. Despite many specific complaints, 71 percent of those polled said they would choose to become doctors again if they were making the choice today, up from 66 percent two years ago. And 50 percent would recommend it to their children, compared with 42 percent in 2012 and 40 percent in 2008 (Beck, 9/16).

CQ Healthbeat: Family Physicians Push For Overhaul Of Medical Education Financing
The nation’s family physicians on Monday proposed significant changes to the federal government’s financing of medical residencies through graduate medical education. The proposal emphasizes support for primary care and would shift money away from hospitals. The handful of changes proposed by the association include shifting money toward the initial residency period that physicians must finish and away from follow-on fellowships in subspecialties. Getting rid of federal funding for the approximately 9,333 funded fellowship positions in the United States and using that money for more basic residency training would allow for the creation of about 7,777 new positions in the initial residency period, also known as first-certificate training program positions, according to the AAFP (Adams, 9/15).

In other news from the American Medical Association -

The Wall Street Journal: AMA Urges Overhaul Of Electronic Medical Records
It's no secret that many physicians hate the electronic-medical-records systems they use, saying they are cumbersome, poorly designed and detract from patient care. Amplifying those concerns, the American Medical Association on Tuesday is calling for a major overhaul of EMR systems to make usability and high-quality patient care a higher priority (Beck, 9/16).