Primary Care Doctors Getting Harder To Find

BOSTON -- Dr. Mark Costa has decided he is not going to take the primary care rat race anymore. Given his experience, he said he is not surprised at studies that show only 2 percent of medical students are going into the field.

Primary Care Physicians Harder To Find

In a house in a quiet Newton neighborhood, he and his wife, Marilyn, a registered nurse, have opened a concierge practice, which they prefer to call a membership practice. For an average yearly fee of $2,400, his patients have access to him 24/7.

"The patients leave here saying this is the best office visit, or best experience that I've had with a doctor ever. Because you're relaxed and I feel completely listened to and taken care of," said Costa .

Newscenter 5's Amalia Barreda reported Costa's black bag is always at the ready, because his fee includes house and office calls.

He spent 13 years as a physician for the Massachusetts General Hospital, an experience he said was very rewarding, and very exhausting. At one point, he had more than 2,000 patients, and he couldn't move fast enough to take care of them all.

Dr. Costa said his high patient load still did not meet insurance company quotas, which resulted in pay cuts of $40,000.

Dr. Martha Wu, a primary care doctor for Beth Israel Deaconess HealthCare, admitted that more than ever, the focus is on productivity.

"Where there is a little bit of pressure to see as many patients as you can in as little bit of time," said Wu .

However, Wu said it is not an issue that will cause her to rethink her practice.

"I love my patients. I love the relationships that I've been able to establish with them. And it's hard for me to imagine that I wouldn't have that anymore," said Wu.

She belongs to the Affiliated Physicians Group, which just hired 42 primary care doctors, evidence that the primary care field is still attracting physicians. As the mother of 4 young children who practices part time, she hopes they can make the job work for them the way it is working for her.

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