The Physician Shortage: Projections, Causes, and Solutions
6. Pipeline problems: Federal funding for physician training was capped in 1997 and has been limited since, restricting the number of new physicians entering the workforce. Though the number of medical residents completing their training each year has increased moderately over the last decade, the supply of new physicians is not keeping up with demand.
As a result, the AAMC supports passage of the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act, bipartisan legislation that would increase the number of Medicare-funded residency positions by 14,000 over seven years.
7. Practice styles: Physicians today are less likely to practice in traditional, office-based, physician-owned, full-time practices than they were in the past. About three-quarters of physicians now are employed by a hospital, medical group, or other entity, rather than being independent practice owners. Employed physicians often work fixed hours or shifts with set vacation times, rather than the extended hours typical of “old school” private practice physicians. In addition, many physicians are embracing practice styles such as part-time, locum tenens, telemedicine and non-clinical administrative roles that reduce the overall number physician full-time-equivalents (FTEs) in clinical care. Newly trained physicians entering the workforce therefore may not fully replace old school physicians leaving it in terms of FTEs.
Today, how physicians practice -- not how many there are -- is an increasingly important factor driving physician shortages.
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