COLUMN: Briefs

V-F execs elected

HOPKINTON - Valpey-Fisher Corp. announced that the board of directors yesterday elected Michael J. Ferrantino Jr. executive vice president and chief operating officer effective Oct. 1. In his new role Mr. Ferrantino will have overall responsibility

of the day-to-day operations of the company. Mr. Ferrantino had been vice president of the company's Control Components Group since January 2004. The board also elected Walter L. Oliwa to senior vice president of research and development effective Oct. 1. He will oversee the company's Control Components new product development programs and will report to Mr. Ferrantino. Mr. Oliwa had been vice president of research and development of the company since May 2005. Michael J. Ferrantino Sr. will remain as president and chief executive officer. Valpey-Fisher is a communications technology company specializing in network timing and frequency control solutions for broadband applications in wireless and optical networks.

MMS doctors poll

The continuing shortage of primary care doctors is now critical, according to the Massachusetts Medical Society's annual poll of doctors.

Internal medicine and family practice are among 12 specialties showing more demand than supply, the seventh annual Physician Workforce Survey reports. Oncology, neurology and dermatology are new to the shortage list, while neurosurgery is the only speciality to appear all seven years. The others are emergency medicine, general surgery, orthopedics, psychiatry, urology and vascular surgery.

Central Massachusetts mirrors the state as a whole, with three-quarters of doctors saying they are having difficulty filling physician vacancies.

The primary care shortage is not new in Massachusetts or the rest of the country, but the state's new mandate for near-universal insurance coverage has added pressure. Wait times for new patients changed slightly from last year: down to 50 days from 52 to get an internal medicine appointment, and up to 36 days from 34 to see a family medicine doctor. A survey of physician offices found that 42 percent of internal medicine and 35 percent of family medicine practices were closed to new patients.