Thread: Doctor shortage? - Look out for more H-1B and L-1 visas

Some new articles are focusing on a doctor "shortage".
Watch for more foreign worker visas "to fill the gap".

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http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Health/200 ... _gap/1523/


Med school enrollment not bridging the gap

Published: Feb. 26, 2008 at 8:54 AM


WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- The decision to cap enrollment at U.S. medical schools two decades ago is creating a shortage of healthcare for rural Americans, specialists say.

Medical advisory groups in the late 1970s and mid-1990s said managed healthcare would mean there would be a lower demand for physicians. Schools capped enrollment levels in response but the U.S. population grew.

Medical schools, realizing the lag, began accepting more applicants, with 2007 seeing the largest freshman class ever, USA Today reported Tuesday.

Josef Fischer with Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, however, says there is a "perfect storm" brewing as baby-boomer physicians retire before the new doctors enter practice.

The American Medical Association says the problem is felt the most in rural America where only 5 percent of all physicians are general surgeons.

USA Today says that's in part because medical specialists get paid more than general surgeons and, with many new doctors entering the work force in massive debt, new doctors opt for specialties over general family medicine.

James King of the American Academy of Family Physicians notes the problem is that "fewer and fewer are going into family medicine and primary care."

"Just increasing the number of slots for medical schools is not going to solve the problems of supplying healthcare to the citizens," he said.

Well if the 20-37 million illegal aliens left, we wouldn't need so many doctors, nurses or over burdened infastructure.

Dixie

The American Medical Association says the problem is felt the most in rural America where only 5 percent of all physicians are general surgeons.

When I lived in Nebraska our Dr. was in town 2 days a week. You got in to see him....there wasn't a wait and it didn't cost a fortune either. He spoke English, did what was necessary and "do you have insurance" wasn't the first thing out of his mouth. They took payments and actually knew your name and cared about you. It was a problem if there was an emergency because the closest hospitals were 50 miles away.....but I would trust them anyday over some I've been stuck seeing. Heck...he took x-rays, blood work and sewed my finger tip back on in less time than I'm stuck sitting in a room here. I didn't have to travel to a lab, travel to an x-ray place, have a ton of people look me over and pay for each "specialists" opinion before they'd sew my fingertip back on either. I didn't have to "follow-up" with special physical therapists or report back every other day to give them 75 bucks to look at it. He told me what to look for and gave me his HOME PHONE if there were problems!!!

They created this "shortage"......and made medicine worse in my opinion. They don't even let Dr's be Dr's anymore.

Yep, I hear ya crazybird.

A big part of what you describe and what the story only brushes on, is that increasingly, degreed/licensed MD choose to go into specialties. There is more money in it compared to a GP or family practice type gig which tends to be more chaotic and requires more hours typically. With a specialty practice, you can very tightly who you see, when you see them, how many hours you work, etc (I have a physician in the extended family and have some pretty good info from the back-end of things here). In fact, many in the specialty world consider a 3 or 4 day work week a 'standard' arrangement. GPs often have to work all 5(+) and then take many urgent and emergency calls during off hours too.

And, yes, there is some truth to the notion that many of the seasoned vets of the GP type of retirement age are beginning to toss in the towel. But, the big unanswered question for me is: are we replacing the retiring GPs with other GPs or just filling slots with licensed people and allowed specialty people to squeeze in during the process? The latter would be exactly what it NOT needed!