Primary PartnerCare® Secures N95 Masks for Independent Doctors
GREAT NECK, N.Y., April 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- This week Primary PartnerCare secured 5,000 N95 masks for its 100+ independent primary care physicians, fighting to care for their long-established patients in the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. "When we lost one of our own doctors to COVID-19, we knew we had to do all that we could to help these frontline doctors survive the pandemic," said Marion Davis, CEO of Primary PartnerCare Management Group. "Primary Care physicians are the foundation of the US Healthcare System, with Medicare, private insurance and the states assigning responsibility for the overall cost and quality of care to these doctors, yet very little has been done to support these frontline practices through the pandemic" Davis continued.
"Almost 60% of our practices are still open and seeing patients in their offices, and we are supplementing with telehealth for patients that do not want to come into our offices," stated Harry Jacob, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Primary PartnerCare. "The CDC and the New York State Department of Health have safety guidelines for medical offices, but they only work if we can secure the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) we need, and that is extremely difficult for small practices" Jacob continued. Primary PartnerCare was able to use its employee network to source an American manufacturer with established contacts in China.
The Primary Care Collaborative in partnership with The Larry A. Green Center recently published results of an April 10-13 survey of primary care practices across America, and reported that fewer than half of the respondents feel they had enough patient volume to stay open for the next four weeks (46%) or enough cash on-hand to stay open for the next four weeks (47%). Dr. Stephen Sisselman, Regional Medical Director, Primary PartnerCare commented "Fortunately, we do not see such devastating numbers from our doctors. The public needs to understand that each primary care doctor has an active panel of over 2,300 patients, meaning that our 100 doctors care for over 230,000 patients, and when you add in our 40 nurse practitioners and physician assistants the number of patients exceed 300,000 patients. The Country cannot afford to have primary care collapse."
It is widely known that Primary Care decreases the overall cost of healthcare by coordinating multiple disease states and proactively intervening on symptoms. These studies also demonstrate that increased access to primary care is correlated with double-digit reductions in ER visits and hospitalizations. The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts that there will be a shortage of 21,100 to 55,200 primary care physicians by the year 2032. Considering the average number of patients each primary care physician actively cares for, this means 48M to 127M Americans will not have access to a primary care physician. These numbers are predicted to grow as doctors chose to close their doors and not return to practice after COVID-19, for financial or other reasons.
"Our job at Primary PartnerCare is to help these critical, frontline doctors care for their patients. As the virus starts to flatten in Metro-New York and its suburbs, we need to help our doctors plan a structured ramp-up to full patient volume that keeps everyone safe. A large part of that will be the proper use of PPE, rigorous sanitizing, controlled patient flow, and consistent and repeated education. These doctors are under enough daily stress and pressure in caring for longstanding patients, they should not have to worry about this added administrative burden," asserts Davis.
About Primary PartnerCare®
Primary PartnerCare is a physician-driven organization founded on the belief that private practice primary care physicians in partnership with their patients produce optimal health. Primary PartnerCare has over 100 primary care physicians in Nassau, Suffolk, Queens and New York Counties. Primary PartnerCare ACO Independent Practice Association was selected to participate in the Medicare Shared Savings Program effective January 2014 and is the only primary care Medicare ACO in New York state. In addition to its physician companies, Primary PartnerCare includes an affiliated management services organization focused on care coordination, outcomes improvement, and the development of proprietary software products for health risk assessment, population health, and predictive analytics. Primary PartnerCare is headquartered in Great Neck, NY. For more information, please visit www.PrimaryPartnerCare.com.
https://www.pcpcc.org/2020/04/17/primary-care-practices-endangered-steep-declines-revenue-and-staff-new-survey-shows
https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/press-releases/new-findings-confirm-predictions-physician-shortage
Media contact:
Marion Davis
[email protected]
516-233-2484
SOURCE Primary PartnerCare Management Group, Inc
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