[NPInfo] Answer to Wall Street Journal

[pattinp at verizon.net]

Dave,

First, thank you for taking the time to write such a fabulous response. You definitely have a way with words! Thank you too for your tireless advocacy for our professions.

Do you have a link to the article?  What was Dr. Brewer's first name?  I am wondering if it is the same Dr. Brewer I once worked for in MD. 

Patti Robertson

>From: David Mittman <dmittman at comcast.net>
>Date: 2008/03/26 Wed AM 11:11:42 CDT
>To: ACC Circle Circle <ACC-Circle at listserve.com>, NPinfo <NPinfo at nurse.net>, 
	PA Forum <PAForum at mc.duke.edu>
>Subject: [NPInfo] Answer to Wall Street Journal

>Sent to Dr. Brewer and Letters to the Editor and posted as a comment.
>
>Dear Dr. Brewer:
>I read your article on the future of primary care in today's Wall  
>Street Journal with interest.
>As a physician assistant (PA) with 33 years experience, I take  
>umbrage with a number of comments you made. Please let me explain.
>You assertion that the primary care provided by NPs and PAs is  
>inferior to that of any other group of professionals who provide  
>primary care is biased, unfair and unable to be substantiated. Can  
>you show one study to back your opinion up? Do you have any idea how  
>much professional opinions based on anecdotal information hurt  
>people? To say that "you get what you pay for"regarding PA and NP  
>care smacks of the type of words used in turf battles without much  
>thought being given to the harm your statement can produce. The same  
>was said by the internal medicine physicians about the first family  
>physicians and your first residencies. Their graduates were also  
>looked at with less than the proper respect and understanding they  
>deserved. I am amazed you would do the same to others.
>I think few would argue that a cardiologist is both trained better  
>and more broadly to treat cardiac problems than a family doctor. So  
>using your logic, in the case of treating hypertension or CHF, family  
>doctors also provide inferior treatment. Clearly the poor patient who  
>gets their CHF treated by a family physician rather than a  
>cardiologist would also" get what they pay for". That thinking is  
>absurd. To think that I would treat bronchitis, or otitis, or tinea,  
>or hypertension or most other problems differently than all others  
>who encounter them, is the same as thinking that you are not equipped  
>to treat hypertension. Of course you are, of course we are.
>
>Dr. Brewer there are close to 200,000 PAs and NPs in practice across  
>America, and the care we provide is excellent. Many work with your FP  
>colleagues whom I would guess are also allowing their patients to  
>receive inferior care. Much of the primary care delivered to our  
>servicemen and their dependents is provided by NPs and PAs, as is  
>much care in the much improved VA system. I suppose all of these  
>people receive poor care also. Even the President and Vice-President  
>have a PA treating them. The US Army's Flight Surgeon of the Year in  
>2007 was a PA!
>We deserve a place in any system designed to bring more healthcare to  
>the people of our country.
>
>As another professional, I would respectfully ask that you do two  
>things; one realize your comments can malign and hurt other  
>professionals who are out there working hard to provide care to many  
>who need it across our great country and secondly, as a man of  
>science, be able to back up your assertions with at least one or two  
>scientific studies.
>
>Yours for a healthier America
>Dave Mittman, PA
>Secretary,
>American College of Clinicians
>Natick, MA
>
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