I agree with you about the need to see pts. We have a same day appointment policy of the person is sick. If they are not sick and we have an opening I (actually the staff) will get the pt in to be seen and listen to me gripe later about how busy I was.......

I am with you about the style, we have a more informal, get to know each other slower pace for a family practice but both myself and the pts seem to like the interaction and the time spent.

Scribes here are about $15/hr last I checked which would take at least a couple of pt's more per day to justify. My problem is when I have had students working with me and kind of tried the scribe thing using the student (MA, Nurse, whatever) I didn't like what they typed and redid much of it myself. I guess a scribe would get used to hat you write but I still feel like it is not my words. My neighbor's daughter was a scribe while in college and waiting to get into PA school. She enjoyed the experience but again I think she was with a specialist group.

Sad thing is most specialist usually use cookie cutter language (templates) and are in and out of the pt's room much faster than I ever get out of a room and get paid more for the visits.