LETTER
What Is Internal Medicine?
William H. Fee Jr.
15 September 1993 | Volume 119 Issue 6 | Pages 541-542
TO THE EDITOR:
In his forthright review of internal medicine today, Dr. LaCombe [1] decries the fragmenting effects of subspecialization on patient care and the associated reimbursement inequities. His own general internist group in rural Maine obtained extra training, and they do procedures that ordinarily are done by subspecialists. This expanded version of general internal medicine will be resisted in urban and suburban areas where fully trained subspecialists are present in adequate, or excess, supply.
Now that traditional general internists are an endangered species, their unique ability to provide quality care and contain costs for complex patients has been rediscovered. Their prestige among their peers and health planners remains high, but little has been done to increase incentives and reimbursements for them. It is time for change.
1. LaCombe M. What is internal medicine? Ann Intern Med. 1993; 118: 384-7.
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