According to the Kaiser Network, congressional bills set to extend health insurance to the presently uninsured don’t address how primary care physicians will deal with the heavy load of new patients.
The American Academy of Family Physicians said there will be 40,000 fewer such doctors in 10 years. The group predicts 160,000 fewer primary care doctors by 2025. One solution to the impending shortage is to increase residency positions at teaching hospitals. We blogged last week about medical students opting to go into specialties to make more money. This trend will exacerbate the primary care physician shortage, and creating more residency positions may not solve the problem.
The other part of the equation, increasing Medicare reimbursements, may help. A measure that would have increased residencies at teaching hospitals and raise Medicare reimbursement rates “significantly” would have cost $10 billion over 10 years. To increase rates for primary care doctors, however, Congress would decrease rates for specialists, which these doctors certainly would oppose.
The most likely card to play appears to be redistributing vacant residencies in a way that favors hospitals seeking to train more primary care doctors.
Will it help? CEO of the Association of American Medical Colleges Dr. Darrell Kirch calls it a “drop in the bucket.” Dr. Ted Epperly, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, called the bills “anemic…but at least a step in the right direction.” He said family doctors like himself would need a pay increase of about 30 percent to attract medical school students to train as primary care physicians.
