Funding for residency programs has tapered off.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: A new study indicates that the demand for doctors, specifically primary care physicians, throughout the US is set to skyrocket over the next decade.
Research from the Robert Graham Center, a leading policy research center that focuses on data regarding primary care and family medicine, shows that the US will need around 52,000 primary care physicians by 2025. The reason for this is that although federal programs will provide funding for at least 2,300 new such doctors by next year, funding on another program will expire at the same time.
Another significant reason for the lack of appropriate care will be the population rise of the US. According to the report, population growth alone will need 33,000 new primary care physicians. On top of that, the increasing number of senior citizens, which has already started to manifest itself, will require an additional 10,000 such doctors, and another 8,000 will be needed on top of that for families covered by the Affordable Care Act.
Unfortunately, the need for more primary care physicians is at loggerheads with the reality of medical school and training. USA Today reports that funding for residency programs has dropped off significantly, which is line with the fact that residency programs are too few in number compared to the medical graduates applying for them.
What’s more, medical school costs are rising, as are the costs of just about every kind of post-grade school education in the US. Student loan debt is becoming a critical source of income for the US government, and medical schools are a large part of that. Primary care also pays significantly less compared to more specialized medical care, like neurology or cardiology, not to mention surgical doctors.
However, the competitiveness of medical school admission makes it clear that there is no dearth of talent looking to enter the field, meaning that a large enough pool is there for primary care physicians if the need should arise. The question remains, however, whether or not these aspiring M.D.s really want to be primary care physicians or something else entirely.