According to Indeed.com, the pay scale for doctors in Massachusetts bombed in 2009 but recovered nicely to the point where 2010 is beginning with an increase over 2008’s pay scales. Family practice physicians in Massachusetts can expect a median salary of $95,000.

In 2009, the AAFP was dismayed to learn that Harvard Medical School had cut funding for its primary care program. The state is experiencing a severe shortage of primary care doctors and the lack of a strong primary care program at Harvard will only encourage new medical students to specialize.

The state has uses a universal health care model for insurance that relies on primary care physicians which has caused those physicians to be much more in demand since the legislation was put in place in 2006. It has been put forward in studies including this one that the state of primary care in Massachusetts will soon be the state of health care in the US considering the new health care reforms that are to be enacted.  The linked study proposes community health centers as a solution to the primary care physician training problem. More than 42% of community health centers now provide primary care physician training, but do not receive funding for this training as university medical health centers do.

The Senate Finance Committee will be voting October 13 on its overhaul to the health care bill. The newest incarnation of the bill has a price tag of $893 billion. The bill was drafted by the Commitee Chairman, Max Baucaus (D- Montana). It is expected to pass, but not without some “nay” votes from some Democrats, who object to it based on differences over how to expand coverage.

The bill has been changed substantively since its inception, with a provision included to exempt all Americans over 65 among others. The bill will basically require all Americans to have some form of health insurance, similar to the current requirement to have car insurance. The main concern of the opposition is that younger taxpayers have to shell out an abundance of new taxes in order to pay for the plan.

The package introduced by the bill will expand coverage to over 94% of Americans. All Republicans are expected to vote against it except perhaps Rep. Olympia Snowe of Maine. The final committee vote will bring the bill out of committee and onto the senate floor within two weeks of a pass in committee.

For more see the Washington Post.

The health care reforms present in the economic stimulus bills met with praise from Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, FACP and president of the American College of Physicians. He had some advice for House and Senate negotiators who are currently trying to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the economic stimulus package.

He is asking Congress to retain the $600 million in funding that is currently present in the House version of the bill for training of primary care physicians under the Title VII and National Health Services Corps programs. The Senate “regrettably left funding out of its bill” according to Dr. Harris. The country needs 16,000 physicians to even out care standards in underserved portions of the country, physicians that could be paid for with this funding. This funding is of particular interest to any hiring organization as it may facilitate hiring of these doctors where they are most needed.

He asked the government to retain $20 billion in funding to improve health care information and records and access to the same, with a longer wait time for adoption of these measures for smaller physician practices which was spelled out in the House bill but not the Senate bill.

He also notes that the House version of the bill contained higher subsidies to COBRA for lower-income unemployed persons (65%) over the Senate version of the bill (50%). He stated that persons who lost their jobs temporarily should also be included in such subsidy programs. “Some say that Congress must choose between short-term measures to stimulate the economy and longer-term health care reforms. This is a false choice,” said Dr. Harris. “We need to make sure that people who lose their jobs are able to obtain affordable coverage. We need to make the investments in health information technology, primary care, and effectiveness research that that will create jobs today – and make health care more affordable tomorrow.”