Who Will Train All Those Primary-Care Physicians?

Abstract

Left pretty much to itself over the past few decades, medical practice in this country has become progressively more specialized. Just before World War II, some three quarters of the aggregate practice time of physicians in the United States was devoted to primary care. Today, that figure has been drastically reduced. American doctors now probably spend at least two thirds of their total clinical time in specialty practice.Is all this specialization good or bad? In a sense, both. Good, because the rise of specialization reflects the development of medical science, which has brought increased power to diagnose, treat . . .