We evaluated the contents and characteristics of informed consent obtained by the primary care physician from a male patient with advanced cancer and his family, and clarified the influences of the informed consent on family function. This patient was diagnosed as having advanced cancer at the age of 46 years, underwent surgery/chemotherapy, but died after 4 months at the hospital. Semi-structu...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES This study assesses the influence of primary care continuity--both clinician and system--on patient outcomes. We consider the presumed benefits of physician continuity and practice coordination within a multi-specialty group. METHODS The practices of 194 family physicians and general internists caring for 320000 adult members of a health maintenance organization were...

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 brings both promise and peril for primary care. This Act has the potential to reestablish primary care as the foundation of U.S. health care delivery. The legislation authorizes specific programs to stabilize and expand the primary care physician workforce, provides an immediate 10% increase in primary care physician payment, create...

OBJECTIVES Based on a recent patient survey from Taiwan, where there is universal health insurance coverage and unrestricted physician choice, this study examined the relationship between physician specialty and the quality of primary medical care experiences. METHODS We assessed ambulatory patients' experiences with medical care using the Primary Care Assessment Tool, representing 7 primary ...

Because managed care is likely to feature prominently in a reformed health care system, policymakers need to examine the impact managed care will have on medical practice, physician supply, and access to primary care providers. Goals for work-force reform should focus on five areas: (1) training physicians in the generalist disciplines of family practice, general internal medicine, and general ...

Increased emphasis on community-based care of people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and AIDS is recommended by the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Patients prefer to be treated within their community, and primary care reduces the demand on scarce, costly, and already overloaded hospital facilities. Thus, there is an increasingly large role for primary care physicians to play in t...