Reports Warn of Primary Care Shortages
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
- KEYWORDS:
- AGING
- EDUCATION, MEDICAL, GRADUATE
- HEALTH SERVICES ACCESSIBILITY
- INCOME
- MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED AREA
- PHYSICIANS
- PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
- UNITED STATES
The United States faces a shortage of primary care physicians that could exceed 40 000 by 2025, according to a recent analysis by researchers from the University of Missouri and the Health Resources and Services Administration (Colwill JM et al. Health Aff [Millwood]. 2008;27[3]:232-241).
A projected shortage of primary care clinicians could mean long waits for patients and heavy burdens for physicians.
The analysis adds to a growing body of evidence that US medical schools are producing too few physicians to meet the demand for medical services. Its findings were supported by a second recent report by the National Association of Community Health Centers, which also predicts a substantial shortfall of primary care physicians and other frontline clinicians (http://www.nachc.com/client/documents/ACCESS%20Transformed%20full%20report.PDF). The reports emphasize that such a shortage is likely to disproportionately affect certain vulnerable populations, including the elderly, individuals who rely on community health centers, and people in rural or poor urban …
