68% Of Primary Care Physicians Unprepared To Manage Consumers’ Non-Medical Social Service Needs

About 68% of primary care physicians are unprepared to manage consumers’ non-medical social service needs. Fewer than half of primary care physicians coordinate with social service agencies and provider organizations. Many primary care physicians believe they lack the knowledge and skills to counsel consumers on physical activity, nutrition, mental health issues, and handling the cost of care.

The findings were reported in “Preparing Future Primary Care Physicians For The New Health Economy” by researchers with the PricewaterhouseCooper Health Research Institute (HRI). The researchers analyzed data from the HRI 2015 clinician survey, which included 1,500 physicians; its 2016 survey . . .