Roger Jenkins worked in urgent care in Northern California for 15 years before moving to Prescott.
"I actually retired," Jenkins said. "I didn't move here to be a doctor."
But after five years here, he went back into practice as a family doctor. He's 59 and sees patients four days a week from about 7:30 a.m. until anywhere from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Then he goes home and tackles patient care issues, he says. In return he gets a five-figure income - soon to be six-figures after he hires another nurse and becomes more productive, he says. He pays about $20,000 a year in medical malpractice insurance and expects to top out in the next few years at $25,000 a year.
He's unusual in the Prescott area because he takes almost all types of insurance. But he doesn't take new Medicare patients because of its low payment rates and because, after two years of taking "all comers," he says he needs to balance out his practice.
The main issue in Prescott, he says, is simple: "There's not enough doctors. Primary care is on the verge of collapse. It's not an opinion, it's a fact."
He says he knows of 10 primary care doctors from this area who have stopped practicing in the past two years.
He thinks doctors aren't choosing to go into primary care - or stay there - because it doesn't pay as well as other specialties.
"Money matters," he said simply.
He blames insurance companies and especially Medicare.
"They pay for cutting and snipping and procedures. They don't pay for caring and talking."
Doctors also face the "hassle" factor.
"The bureaucracy of medicine has run amok," Jenkins said. "It takes on average 7.8 hours a week to deal with the paperwork ... for which there is no reimbursement."
Jenkins works four days a week in direct patient care. Four nights a week he works until about 11 p.m. on patient care issues.
"I generally work my day off, Tuesday, and one of the weekend days as well, making a workweek of about 80 hours," Jenkins said. "Of course, I'm slow and give patients lots of time.
"Medicine has ceased being a pleasant job, except for the patients," he continued. "If you're not made to be a doctor and willing to put up with all of this for the joy and gratification of a job well needed and well done, it just isn't worth the trouble. So many doctors just quit. They get a more defined job. They get a salaried job."
