In Case You Missed It — Healthcare Daily Digest for Thursday, 3 January

This story, from The Village Voice, sort of hits the very center of our Venn diagram sweet spot: you’ve got some doctors, you’ve got some newly-insured-via-healthcare-reform folk, throw in some student debt and POW.

Some background: First off, we’re coming up on a doctor shortage (stupid Global Warming…) what with over 30 percent of U.S. physicians set to retire over the next decade. Hardest hit in that Great Exodus: primary care physicians. “Currently, just 20 percent of medical students become primary care physicians,” according to The Voice, “something that Obamacare tries to remedy by increasing funding for the National Health Service Corps, which extends scholarships and forgives loans to new doctors in underserved areas.”

It still may not be enough, at least according to second-year medical student Sarah Griffin: “People are taking on a huge amount of debt, and primary care doesn’t pay as well as other specialties,” she says. “We’re being asked to choose a profession that may not compensate us in a way that will allow us to pay off our debts and to provide for a family and live a comfortable life after, what, 10 years of hard work.”

Sounds like someone’s being a little greedy, Sarah, thinking she can Have it All but really: he’s never going to quit that band or his fantasy football league so let’s not get so ahead of ourselves with this “provide for a family” business. You’ll be fine. Here’s a cat.

Other headlines you may have missed:

Let’s Look Back in Time: Here’s a Politico.com piece from before we learned that we’re NOT going over the alleged “Fiscal Cliff”. However, as predicted in the headline (“Fiscal cliff deal — if it happens — doesn’t settle much of health care future”), healthcare futures are looking grim. Still relevant, even if it’s old.

And They’re Standing RIGHT BEHIND YOU: I’m sure the headline didn’t mean to be menacing: “In collecting bills, UNC Health Care has powerful friends.” However, stick around for the artful use of the phrase “hopping mad” because your grandpa is now writing copy for the North Carolina News Observer.

And It Just Gets Worse From There: “Employers who ignore or are only partially compliant with healthcare privacy issues could face greater government scrutiny and fines,” says Philadelphia attorney Christopher Ezold in this piece from InformationWeek.com.

See the Above Story: “A laptop containing the personal information of approximately 8,500 South Jersey Healthcare patients and others at two out-of-state facilities has been reported stolen, hospital officials said Wednesday.”

A Study of Past Studies Leads to New Information, More Studies: According to Reuters.com, “Whether states, hospitals and smaller practices that spend more money on health care provide better treatment is still an open question, according to a new review of past studies.” Remind me to show you my eye-roll at people who like to brag about shopping at Whole Foods, too.