A recent analysis from The Cochrane Collaboration, an international group that reviews scientific evidence, concluded that general health checkups for adults did not help patients live longer or healthier lives.
So many people are convinced that the annual exam with their own primary care physician is super important to their health. But this research has been trickling out for decades now that it is not.
This changes the future of primary care significantly. I believe that most people do not need a primary care physician. They need a very small amount of recommended screening tests (you can see what you need here) and super quick access to the right physician at the right time to fix acute problems when they arise. This is actually good news considering the fact that so few doctors are choosing primary care as a profession. Seeing the same primary care physician nowadays over time is also getting quite rare. And so many of our diseases nowadays are lifestyle diseases and doctors are notoriously bad at getting us to change our lifestyles.
This is also the basis of Sherpaa. When you have a health concern, give us a call and we’ll either fix the problem right then and there or direct you to the perfect physician to fix your problem. Sometimes that’s an urgent care center. Sometimes that’s a specialist. Sometimes it’s the ER. The concept of the old school primary care physician is just that, old school.
However, when you do have a few chronic illnesses and/or you’re getting older, you need a foundation— a professional team, including a primary care physician, to help you coordinate your medical issues. But for the vast majority of us, we simply need the best, most available professional to take care of the issue at hand. It’s a paradigm shift, but one that just makes sense and is now grounded in sound research.