One consequence of the expanded access to healthcare facilitated by healthcare reform will be a shortfall in the necessary numbers of physicians and other advanced medical professionals, according to a study.
The United States will face serious shortages in the combined workforce of physicians, advance practice nurses and physician assistants over the next two decades, researchers wrote. The study concluded that without an adequate supply of advanced medical professionals, the U.S. will not meet the goals of healthcare reform.
Study researchers drew upon data from the American Medical Association, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the Physician Assistant Education Association, among others, to project the future supply of practitioners. They contrasted these figures with separate projections of demand, based on expectations of expenditures made by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the President's Council of Economic Advisors and the Congressional Budget Office.
"It is important to note that more than two-thirds of advanced clinicians are physicians and that the U.S. is training fewer physicians per capita each year," senior author Richard Cooper, MD, professor at the Perleman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a news release.
"Despite the participation of more advance practice nurses and physician assistants in both primary and specialty practices, the physician shortage has increased about 1% annually and is now 7% to 8% nationally, although its severity varies in different locales."
Although training programs for APNs and physician assistants are expected to grow continually, according to the study, there is little evidence that the same will be true for physicians. Yet if physician training programs are not expanded, the current shortages are expected to grow to 20% by 2025. Because of the long lead times necessary to train more physicians, adding as many as 500 additional entry-level positions annually will decrease the future shortages by only a few percentage points; even with 1,000 more entry-level positions added annually, shortages will be 14% to 15% in 2025, double the current rate.
"Long before the healthcare reform bill was written, our nation was headed for serious physician shortages," lead author Michael Sargen, an MD candidate at the Perleman School of Medicine, said in the news release. "As these shortages deepen, physicians will focus on areas of care that demand their high levels of skill and education most.
"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.
The United States will face serious shortages in the combined workforce of physicians, advance practice nurses and physician assistants over the next two decades, researchers wrote. The study concluded that without an adequate supply of advanced medical professionals, the U.S. will not meet the goals of healthcare reform.
Study researchers drew upon data from the American Medical Association, the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and the Physician Assistant Education Association, among others, to project the future supply of practitioners. They contrasted these figures with separate projections of demand, based on expectations of expenditures made by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the President's Council of Economic Advisors and the Congressional Budget Office.
"It is important to note that more than two-thirds of advanced clinicians are physicians and that the U.S. is training fewer physicians per capita each year," senior author Richard Cooper, MD, professor at the Perleman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a news release.
"Despite the participation of more advance practice nurses and physician assistants in both primary and specialty practices, the physician shortage has increased about 1% annually and is now 7% to 8% nationally, although its severity varies in different locales."
Although training programs for APNs and physician assistants are expected to grow continually, according to the study, there is little evidence that the same will be true for physicians. Yet if physician training programs are not expanded, the current shortages are expected to grow to 20% by 2025. Because of the long lead times necessary to train more physicians, adding as many as 500 additional entry-level positions annually will decrease the future shortages by only a few percentage points; even with 1,000 more entry-level positions added annually, shortages will be 14% to 15% in 2025, double the current rate.
"Long before the healthcare reform bill was written, our nation was headed for serious physician shortages," lead author Michael Sargen, an MD candidate at the Perleman School of Medicine, said in the news release. "As these shortages deepen, physicians will focus on areas of care that demand their high levels of skill and education most.
"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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