Primary Care Shortfall

Jack Colwill, professor emeritus of family and community medicine in the MU School of Medicine, and his research team found that the U.S. could face a shortage of up to 44,000 family physicians and general internists in less than 20 years, due to a skewed compensation system that rewards specialists increasingly more than primary care practitioners. The researchers are more optimistic about the future supply of general pediatricians. The wait to see a doctor could get a lot longer if the current number of students training to be primary care physicians doesn't increase soon, according to a new study. The U.S. could face a shortage of up to 44,000 family physicians and general internists in less than 20 years. Comment: Note that there is probably no shortage of specialists. To emphasize the problem the Wall St. Journal today reported that that medical professionals who "really want to do well, [should] become a nurse anesthetist." They "typically receive an undergraduate nursing degree, have experience working as registered nurses, and complete two to three years of post-graduate training." By one estimate, "nurse anesthetists recruited" over the past year "through the staffing firm Merritt Hawkins & Associates landed salaries that averaged $185,000." The nurses' salaries exceeded the salaries of "family-practice docs hired through the firm, who averaged $172,000, and internists, who averaged $176,000." If we want access to health care we need to change the rewards system to encourage primary care practice.