A new secret‑shopper study says Portland’s primary care clinics are far less likely than those in other major U.S. cities to take on new Medicare patients. Researchers found that only about one in three Portland clinics were willing to add a Medicare patient, and even when clinics said yes, the median wait to see a physician in Portland stretched to roughly two months.
Oregon Health & Science University led the research and put out a news release after the manuscript was accepted for publication in Health Affairs Scholar. “Primary care is the front door to the health care system,” senior author Jane Zhu told OHSU, warning that when people cannot get timely primary care, chronic conditions can go unmanaged and patients are more likely to end up in the emergency…..