Print edition: 
It seems our country has plenty of medical technology (cardiac, joint, spine and eye surgery centers; dialysis units; CT, MRI, PET scans), but it is hard to find an article on health care now that does not highlight the shortage of primary-care doctors. Studies from all over the world show that health systems based on a strong foundation of primary-care medicine have better health care outcomes and lower costs.
Most would agree that doctors usually are well-paid. However, our growing shortage of primary-care doctors might be explained by comments by medical students and residents that primary care is too hard and the pay is too little.
The Mayo Clinic, a health system that President Obama has identified as a model for this country, recently announced that its Arizona primary-care clinic no longer will accept Medicare assignment and will demand that Medicare patients pay cash.
I'm a physician, and I believe we can lower health costs with better utilization of expensive technology. If 24 MRI scanners spread from Bolivar, Mo., to Harrison, Ark., meet the needs of 1.2 million patients in the Springfield, Mo., area, why do 480,000 people in Sedgwick County need 25 scanners? Every county surrounding Wichita has its own MRI services.
Studies show that physician ownership in medical technology often produces a huge increase in use of that technology by those physician owners as compared with like specialists without this ownership. Doctors own 15 scanners in Wichita, but only three in Springfield.
Health care costs soar when high patient expectation meets easy access to technology. It is much easier for a doctor to order a study than to explain that the test is not needed.
I hope you have a personal physician committed to providing you with the care that you need, not necessarily with the test that you want.
LARRY ANDERSON
Wellington
