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Primary Care Doc: The Chronic Disease Epidemic Is Upon Us

Posted on September 04, 2008

Ben Brewer, a family doctor in rural Illinois, is one of a nation of primary docs trying to manage chronic disease in a system set up for handling acute problems. It s an uphill battle.His patients have grown more obese, and he s seeing the complications of obesity high blood pressure, diabetes in ever younger patients. In his WSJ.com column this week, he writes:The way doctors get paid, it doesn t make sense to spend an hour with a patient, talking about complex health problems. There s more incentive to rush the patient through; the system pays when a poorly managed patient i...

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diabetes , diet , high blood pressure , insulin , obese , obesity