Almost One in Three Primary Care Physicians Wouldn't Go into Medicine Again.

ROHNERT PARK, Calif. -- Almost 30 percent of primary care physicians in a recent survey say they would not go into medicine if they had their time over. More than half say they are disappointed with their incomes relative to their work efforts.

Most doctors in the survey expect overhead costs to get worse in the next five years. Seven percent -- one in 15 -- say flatly they "will not be able" to sustain operating expenses in that time and another 22 percent are "doubtful."

As a result, primary care doctors are being pushed into seeing more patients each day even as their career satisfaction levels go into a steep decline, says Pamela Moore, a senior editor at Physicians Practice, which commissioned the survey.

The results stand in stark contrast to a comment by Dr. William Marsh, a family doctor in Scottsdale, Arizona, who says "My income is up, my costs are down and I can get all my work done in seven hours a day."

Marsh bucks the trend, he says, because he computerized his record keeping. "It's probably the best investment I ever made."

The effect in one area alone, billing, was dramatic. "The paperwork needed to justify the level of treatment is so time-consuming that I was habitually under-billing for fear that I might over-charge by mistake and find myself faced by the crushing fine Medicare can levy for each incident."

Cecil George MD, a family physician in Fort Stockton, Texas, estimates his computerized record system saves one and a half fulltime employees, equal to around $50,000 a year in pay and benefits. "For a solo practice, that's a lot of money," he comments.

In rural Wyoming, where primary care doctors are few and far between, John Thurston MD has one of the busiest solo practices in the state. "I've always been a hard worker but I can't imagine the kind of workload I have with traditional handwritten records and dictation," he says.

All these doctors chose ChartWare, the only system suitable for both large and small installations to be awarded five stars in the most recent survey of electronic record keeping by Family Practice Management, official journal of the American Academy of Family Physicians. "It does everything I want it to do," says George.