Joseph B. Martin, former dean of Harvard Medical School, bemoans the lack of new primary care doctors, and offers suggestions for how to increase that number in coming years.
Read his article in The Boston Globe.
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on physician shortage ...
Everyone has heard about the looming shortages in primary care, especially in family medicine. At the root of the problem are the lower reimbursements PCPs receive, as compared to their specialist and surgical colleagues. Now, in order to make primary care more attractive, Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Montana) has proposed boosting Medicare rates for PCPs. But some physicians see this as a robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul approach. To read why, see this provocative entry from American Medical News.
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on physician shortage ...
The recent closing of a maternity ward in northern New Hampshire leaves residents with just one hospital for prenatal and maternity care in an 1,830-square-mile county. Women living in the northernmost town, will be forced to drive more than 60 miles for such crucial medical care, Sen. Judd Gregg (R) writes in The Eagle-Tribune. That’s unacceptable, he says.
This closing is a snapshot, reflecting the significant shortage of doctors who provide prenatal care and deliver babies in America today, Gregg writes. This shortage is due in large part to the nationwide medical liability crisis that has made it difficult for many doctors to continue to practice, brought on by the predatory practices of trial lawyers and their supporters in Congress.
Doctors’ insurance costs put mothers, babies at risk [Via The Eagle-Tribune]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on malpractice ...
In the nearly four decades since North Carolina last expanded its system of public medical education, Charlotte has become the largest city in the nation without a campus that trains doctors. That could change as soon as 2009, providing the NC General Assembly goes along with bold plans to expand enrollment at the state’s two public medical campuses. That would be an important step for the Charlotte region and a sensible way to meet the state’s increasing need for physicians, according to an editorial posted on the web site of The Charlotte Observer.
N.C. needs doctors [Via The Charlotte Observer]
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on physician shortage ...
As noted in an item posted here on Feb. 15, New York recently stepped up its efforts to attract physicians to the state’s underserved areas. Now Maryland is sounding the same drumbeat with a Daily Times article about how small communities are struggling to keep area hospitals viable, “But as local doctors have moved away . . . or retired during the past 10 years, the ranks [in one hospital] have fallen from seven full-time surgeons to two. There also are only two anesthesiologists; one is nearing retirement.” continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on physician shortage ...
Last month, New York became the latest state to confront a problem that other states have been wrestling with for some time—increasing the supply of physicians in their underserved areas.
New York, like other states with large swatches of rural land, has reason to act. One-quarter of the state’s population—roughly 4.9 million people—lives in areas with more than 3,500 people per physician. According to the state Department of Health, it would require an additional 300 primary care physicians or more in each of these Health Professional Shortage Areas to begin to right the imbalance. Many of these same areas are also short of specialists. Eight New York counties, for instance, have no gynecologists practicing obstetrics. And Western New York is hemorrhaging surgeons at an alarming rate. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on health policy ...
Delaware has about 70,000 diabetics and fewer than a dozen endocrinologists. Patients who want to see one can wait as much as four months. That is, unless you have connections. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on patient relations ...
Physician blogger Kevin Pho, a.k.a. Kevin, M.D., has authored an op-ed piece for the Manchester Union Leader in which he warns that cuts in physician Medicare payments affect everyone because they will result in fewer primary care physicians. continues…
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From Medical Economics magazine, more on Medicare/Medicaid ...
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