I think they provide assembly line medicine and give the patient what they want. They won’t hold back medication and tell the sick to eat better and exercise for fear of losing money
When I suggest to patient that they stop smoking, they’re often like “Wait, smoking is bad for me? Well, this is the first I’m hearing of this. Thanks for telling me, I’ll immediately go and change my habits.”
In an office setting, 50-60% of a doc’s time is spent charting and handling phone notes, test results, homecare communications, patient messages, etc.
So for a 20 minute time slot visit, that gives upwards of 10 minutes to spend with the patient. And in that 10 minutes, we’re supposed to thoroughly address their diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart failure, afib, thyroid, insomnia, back pain, knees pain, headaches, skin lesions, anxiety, obesity, and sinus infection. Kind of hard to squeeze in a personalized diet and exercise plan.
If we did, I’m sure you wouldn’t complain about the 2-3 hour wait times that would go with that.