What a revoltin' development this is. Doctors have to be paid to see patients. We have come to the final stages of eliminating a doctor-patient relationship. The patient is now a commodity instead of a part of a professional trusted partnership to make our lives better. It is time for the public to insist our medical schools(subsidized to some extent by taxpayers) insist on making their students aware what a Hippocratic Oath means. A digitalized mechanical technological robotron is not it. Does it feel comfortable that a visit to a doctor is offered because of extra cash? Next please!

Misleading headline! This should be titled: Doctors given production quotas.

This is familiar. it reminds me of what was going on in the 90s when your HMO physician had so many patients that he or she had no way of knowing what was going on.

Maybe health care employees don't want their personal physician to be someone they work with and don't want their records accessible to various co-workers (oh yes, it happens all the time). We are back to the "companhy store" of Tennessee Ernie Ford fame. It is outrageous that they have these economic pressures on their choice of physician!

If pcp compensation was equivalent to specialists, and or incentives such as student loan reduction offered, perhaps their wouldn't be such a shortage....

The Mcdonalds of medicine. Get more patients get paid more but throw them off on less educated subordinates, and make sure they are not diagnosed properly because that test, procedure or hospitalization fee is coming out of the doctor's pot. This is like a contractor signing you up to do home repairs. Getting your deposit and then not doing any actually good work. just a sloppy job and you are left with a mess and then the contractor walks away and goes on to the next unsuspecting mark.