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PRIMARY CARE Summers on Patient Care Harvard University president Larry Summers and former U.S. surgeon general C. Everett Koop were among the guests on Nov. 29 at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center's 30th anniversary celebration for Healthcare Associates (HCA), the hospital's primary care practice, which has been hailed as a national model for hospital-based primary care, teaching, and research. Harvard University president Larry Summers Photo by Steve Gilbert In his keynote address at a morning symposium, Summers pointed out what he called "a paradox in how economists talk about health care." Rapid growth in other sectors of the economy is seen as an indication of robustness, but expansion in the health care sector is viewed as a crisis. "I'm here as an economist to tell you that's bad economics," said the former U.S. Treasury secretary. Although cost controls are important, he said, the rising price tag attached to medical care is, in large part, a consequence of technological triumphs--a good thing. Following Summers's talk, small-group workshops met to discuss a variety of primary care- related topics, including disability management, cultural diversity, integrating the arts and humanities with primary care, and patient empowerment through information technology. A panel discussion concluded the symposium. Speakers included novelist Gish Jen, poet Mark Doty, and four physicians from varied practice settings, who shared their experiences and mused on what primary care should or could be. Later that day, Koop spoke at a fund-raising dinner for HCA at the Museum of Fine Arts. --Tom Reynolds