See what is happening as more specialists are taking on primary care responsibilities:
“Would you be my primary care doctor?”
Specialists are hearing this more and more as the primary care shortage intensifies. Especially if we have to see them more than once for ongoing medical concerns like a pacemaker, defibrillator, heart failure or more recently, diabetes. It’s becoming increasingly challenging for patients to obtain appointments with their primary care doctors, perhaps due to overbooked appointments, manpower shortages, or the reluctance of the patient to deal with unfamiliar “physician extenders.”
