Staff shortages looming in wake of healthcare reform

Thursday, July 21, 2011

One of the consequences of expanding access to health care provided by health care reform will be a shortfall in the amount required of doctors and other advanced medical professionals, according to a study.

The United States will face severe shortages in the combined workforce of physicians, advance practice nurses and physician assistants in the next two years, the researchers wrote. The study concluded that without an adequate supply of advanced medical professionals, the U.S. will not meet the objectives of health reform.

Researchers study was based on data from the American Medical Association, American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the Association of Physician Assistant Education, among others, to project the future supply of professionals. That contrasts with figures for demand projections separately, based on the expectations of the costs incurred by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, President of the Council of Economic Advisers and the Congressional Budget Office.

"It is important to note that over two thirds of advanced practitioners are doctors and that the U.S. is training fewer doctors per capita each year," senior author Richard Cooper, MD, professor in the School of perlemoen Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, said in a news release.

"Despite the personal participation of more advanced practice nursing and physician assistants in the practices of primary and specialty shortage of doctors has increased by about 1% per year and is now 7% to 8% at nationwide, although its severity varies in different places. "

Although training programs for APN and physician assistants is expected to grow continuously, according to the study, there is little evidence that the same applies to physicians. However, if medical training programs do not expand, the current shortage is expected to grow to 20% in 2025. Given the long time needed to train more doctors, adding up to 500 additional points of entry each year will reduce future shortages in just a few percentage points, even with 1,000 other entry-level positions are added each year The shortage will be 14% to 15% by 2025, double the current rate.

"Long before the health reform bill was written, our nation is heading for serious shortages of doctors," lead author Michael Sargen, a Ph.D. candidate in the Faculty of Medicine perlemoen said in the news press. "As this lack of depth, doctors focus on care areas that demand high levels of training and education of the majority.

"It will not be possible for physician assistants and advance practice nurses to fill the void, even with the increases in supply that we have projected. Therefore, it will be necessary not only to expand the training capacity of all three disciplines, but also to widen the spectrum of healthcare workers and integrate them into the processes of providing of care."

The study appears in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons: http://www.journalacs.org/article/S1072-7515%2811%2900185-2/abstract.

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