Family Physician, community preceptor, chronic disease management research. I advocate to eliminate health care disparities & expand primary care. My views.
Charlotte, NC
Joined December 2010
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Rest In Peace John Morphet. A beautiful soul died last week. He was depressed and sick and the place he turned to for help did not treat him as it was an out of network hospital for his insurance. He committed suicide 2 days later. #SinglePayer might have saved him
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
Family physicians are calling on Congress to act before year’s end on bipartisan policies that would strengthen primary care and improve access for patients nationwide. Policymakers must:
➡️ Pass the Patients First Act to reform Medicare physician payment
➡️ Reduce prior authorization delays
➡️ Fund CHCs and the @NHSCorps
➡️ Protect access to physicians in high need areas
Read our full letter here: bit.ly/4r3tYo3
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
Family physicians are calling on Congress to act before year’s end on bipartisan policies that would strengthen primary care and improve access for patients nationwide. Policymakers must:
➡️ Pass the Patients First Act to reform Medicare physician payment
➡️ Reduce prior authorization delays
➡️ Fund CHCs and the @NHSCorps
➡️ Protect access to physicians in high need areas
Read our full letter here: bit.ly/4r3tYo3
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
Hearing a candidate for the United States Senate brag that her parents were forced to work when they were sick and that they both passed before she was a teenager is a sad indictment of how much we have lost the plot on health care reform.
This isn’t a private sector versus public sector argument - it’s a human issue. People deserve to live healthy lives and our health care system should help them.
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
The @aafp is pleased to see @HRSAgov award $102 million to expand the Health Center Program, which will improve access to comprehensive primary care for nearly 1 million people nationwide. CHCs help keep primary care physicians in communities that are affected by workforce shortages. We look forward to continuing our work with HRSA to ensure every patient has a usual source of care, like a family physician. bit.ly/3TWeVjC
No wonder outpatient private practices are folding.
If only there was a way to put physician payment on a stable footing with inflationary updates, direct extra funding to critical access hospitals only and rein in outsized corporate profits? 🧐
Physician conversion factors:
2000: $36.6173
2003: $36.7856
2006: $37.8975
2009: $36.0666
2012: $34.0376
2015: $35.7547
2018: $35.9996
2021: $34.8931
2024: $32.7442
UHC stock up 8,556%
Insurance premiums up 342%
Inflation up 86%
Physician pay down 10%
We should keep cutting physician pay so families have more money in their pockets through reduced costs and reduced premiums based on the last 25 years of experience.
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
Hospitals. That’s who is to blame.
It’s easy to hate insurance companies if if you want to make medical care cheaper and more widely available you need the courage to hate health care providers.
wsj.com/health/healthcare/me…
Primary care is drowning under unnecessary administrative tasks 📠 that have no proven value to patient care and cost practices plenty trying to deal with it all. Strengthening primary care also entails decreasing the costs 💸associated with a chaotic third-party payer environment and unnecessary administrative oversight coming at us from all angles.
Thanks to leaders from @CMSGov and @CMSinnovates who kicked off #PrimaryCare26 last week for a discussion on how to increase investment in primary care. Catch up by watching our livestream: bit.ly/4ygvTc9
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
The momentum won't stop post-PC26. The path forward is clear. The impact is big. Triple Double =
✔️ Investment doubled (5% → 10%)
✔️ Access expanded (10% → 20%)
✔️ Workforce doubled (20% → 40%)
A clear path forward. Now is the moment to act. Learn more: bit.ly/4v2oqdL
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
If #Medicare payment reforms are not enacted, “Patients will likely face longer waits, fewer choices and less access to primary care, especially in rural and underserved communities...Over time, that means a smaller primary care workforce at the very moment patients need access to more continuous, comprehensive care," said Stephanie Quinn, @aafp's EVP of external affairs and practice experience. Read more in @GoHealio: bit.ly/4vIQ6Wf
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
This and similar events around the country should grab our attention and embarrass those who have created this untenable practice environment. They are leaving because the complexity of the insurance-based system has broken their will to keep their practice open.
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
"Lawmakers see statistics. We see the faces. We know the patient who delayed care because of cost. We know the family who is struggling to find a primary care physician. We know the elderly patient who is trapped in a bureaucratic cycle of prior authorizations. Our patients need physicians who will not only care for them when they are sick, but who will also fight for a healthcare system that serves them better," writes @aafp president @SCNosalMD in a new op-ed in @Medscape: wb.md/4eELYix
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
Did we all just witness a moment of bipartisan agreement on insurance companies?
Wow…
In this exchange, both AOC and RFK Jr. openly acknowledge something patients and physicians have been saying for years, insurance companies are incentivized to make people appear sicker in order to increase profits through upcoding.
Upcoding is when diagnoses are documented as more severe or complex than they actually are in order to increase reimbursement.
At the same time, patients are facing:
• increasing denials
• shrinking reimbursement
• delayed care
• endless administrative barriers
• and a healthcare system that too often feels designed around profit instead of people
What struck me most about this moment is not the politics. It’s the fact that leaders from completely different sides of the aisle appear to agree that something is deeply broken.
Patients know it.
Doctors know it.
And now more people in power are saying it out loud.
Let’s mark this moment and let’s start demanding accountability.
The 17 Best Family Medicine Podcasts Of 2026 themedicalpractice.com/techn…
This illustrates a fine point. We were already providing good care when patients could get to us and afford it. Instead of trying to make the HC system “perform” better, money should’ve gone to improving access by strengthening the primary care workforce through universal financing.
$7.8 billion - stop setting money on fire and just pay primary care more. Your communities will be healthier and happier.
Skimming 18% off a 5T industry and labeling it as cost effective would be laughable if it were not so dangerous for our patients and damaging to our work force.
United Health Group (UHG) recently reported their Q1 2026 results, exceeding earnings expectations with $111.7 billion in revenue—a 2% year-over-year increase. They attribute their positive performance to “improved medical cost management.”
Just so we are all clear - medical cost management is code for prior authorization, downcoding, care denials, etc.
They take pride in denying care because it looks good on their earnings report.
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
The victory of the opposition in Hungary yesterday, like the Polish election in 2023, is a victory for democracy, not just in Europe but around the world. Most of all, it’s a testament to the resilience and determination of the Hungarian people – and a reminder to all of us to keep striving for fairness, equality and the rule of law.
Andrea DeSantis DO, FAAFP retweeted
Family physicians see every day how policy decisions affect patients, practices and communities. That’s why physician voices in advocacy are more important than ever. New from @aafp president @SCNosalMD in @HopkinsMedicine:
➕ You don’t have to be a policy expert to advocate.
➕Advocacy doesn’t have to be complicated.
➕Early-career voices matter.
➕Physician advocacy shapes policy.
Read more: bit.ly/4boFp27
