A different model of primary care– will this be what happens to primary care docs in 10 years?
You couldn’t paint a different picture for primary care providers than what is happening to colleagues on the dental side of the business (see NYTimes article). Trained better on the business front, the dental picture is evolving significantly different than for primary care– fees are rising, work hours are declining, and competition is decreasing as practicing dentist levels are flat despite an increasing population.
Dental fees have risen much faster than inflation. In real dollars, the cost of the average dental procedure rose 25 percent from 1996 to 2004. The average American adult patient now spends roughly $600 annually on dental care, with insurance picking up about half the tab.Dentists’ incomes have grown faster than that of the typical American and the incomes of medical doctors. Formerly poor relations to physicians, American dentists in general practice made an average salary of $185,000 in 2004, the most recent data available. That figure is similar to what non-specialist doctors make, but dentists work far fewer hours. Dental surgeons and orthodontists average more than $300,000 annually.
