Research: 41% Of Patients Continue To Seek Primary Care From Specialists.

I have said this for years. Why would someone seek the care of an eye surgeon (ophthalmologist) for primary eye care?

What do you think?

Research: 41% Of Patients Continue To Seek Primary Care From Specialists.

Modern Healthcare  (8/21, Robeznieks, Subscription Publication) reports, "More than 40% of patient visits for primary-care services took place at a specialist physician's office, suggesting 'current and continued inefficiency in the delivery of primary-care services,' according to a research letter published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, and Yale University, New Haven, Conn., compared National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey records from 1999 with records from 2007 and saw virtually no change in the percentage of primary-care service visits conducted at specialists' offices: 41% in 1999 and 41.2% in 2007." Attempting to explain the findings, the researchers "suggested, patients have come to believe that specialists provide better care for specific conditions," or that "the shortage of primary-care physicians has pushed patients toward specialists."