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[quote=Anonymous]Why is it so hard to find a primary care doctor taking new patients?

The average panel of general practice doctor is somewhere around 2200-2400 patients. At some point, they have to cap patients -- the more you have, the more you are responsible for. The more problems to address, messages to answer, people who expect you will be able to fit them in around other patients for post-op checks, to see after ED visits, for crisis events, etc.

A lot of your established patients also assume you will accept new members of their family -- newborn infants, adopted children, cousins and nieces or nephews that move to the area.

Your colleagues who are subspecialists with complicated patients who need a primary care doctor are going to be asking you to add in patients with newly diagnosed cancer, heart disease, kidney failure, genetic disorders, chronic pulmonary disease, etc. You know those patients are going to need to be added on top of the list you are already responsible for, and they need good care. They need attention and thoughtfulness. They need your energy and time to address all the acute problems that arise as well as regular visits for chronic disease management.

So wherever you cap, that census is going to keep climbing.  The most clear-cut people *not* to take on are the ones looking for a primary care doctor who have no connection to you yet.

And let me be clear -- if you do not put a cap on it and say know, you cannot take care of the people you are already promised to. And you owe them care! You already have an established relationship. This isn't about new people looking for a doctor not deserving it -- it's just that you can't be that doctor, at some point.

I know a family med doctor who converted to an electronic chart system and discovered he had over 6000 patients. To  see all of them for one visit would take something like a year and a half if he took no vacations and worked 10 hours a day. That's not "being someone's doctor" -- and that is why it took months to get in to see him.

So you have to say no. I'm sorry, OP.[/quote]

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