Insurance Company Announces New Funds to Improve Primary Care

On January 27th, Wellpoint -- the nation’s second largest insurance company -- announced new funds to support primary care doctors. The $1 billion dollar effort would increase payments for typical doctor visits as well as reimburse doctors for additional services like helping patients prepare “care plans.” Wellpoint states that it hopes that increased payments will allow primary care doctors to spend more time with patients. More comprehensive treatments and face to face time with doctors should improve patient health while cutting down on expensive specialist and emergency room visits.
 
This is just the latest effort to improve primary care in the U.S. medical system. On this blog we’ve documented the Obama administration's effort to increase the number of primary care doctors. These efforts seem to be paying off as medical schools announced that an increased number of student have entered into primary care training programs for the second year in a row.

-- Yahoo News / CWA Health Care Blog / Association of American Medical Colleges