A New Mexico experiment aims to fix the doctor shortage – no new doctors required

Washington Post - Sanjeev Arora is a Albuquerque-based physician who focuses on the treatment of Hepatitis C patients. Back in 2003, he wasn’t an easy guy to get a hold of: Patients waited eight months to nab a spot on his schedule. “Patients would make about 12 to 18 trips for treatment, and each one might be 200 miles,” Arora recalls. “These people were very sick. And we started asking, why is this happening and how can we fix it?” The explanation was simple: Arora was among a handful of Hepatitis C specialists in New Mexico, which put his services into high demand. The solution was a bit more complicated. Arora started wondering whether some of the care he delivered, largely diagnosing Hepatitis C and monitoring subsequent treatment, could be delivered by primary care doctors elsewhere in the state. It would save patients the long trips across the state, not to mention free up Aurora’s own schedule. Arora reached out to primary care doctors across the state and found 21 that were interested in additional training on how to treat Hepatitis C themselves. They began holding weekly video-conferences, where the primary care doctors peppered Arora with questions about diagnoses and a subsequent treatment plan. Then, they went back to their clinics and delivered the care themselves. Read More News New Mexico

A New Mexico experiment aims to fix the doctor shortage – no new doctors required