Can Increasing the Role of Primary Care Doctors Help Cut Costs?

There was an article in the most recent issue of Businessweek about the growing popularity of giving primary care doctors a larger role in health care to help cut costs. The idea is that these doctors would serve as a "medical home," and handle almost all health issues instead of referring people to specialists. The problem is only 17% of medical graduates enter this field, and some say many primary care doctors do not have the expertise to handle issues ranging from helping people lose weight to chronic pain management.

One major advocate of this idea is President Obama, who will be holding an online health care forum tomorrow, with questions being submitted via twitter, facebook, and youtube.