Solutions to doctor shortage needed

As an estimated 14 million additional Americans become eligible for health insurance next year under the Affordable Care Act, recent survey data reveals that the number of doctors entering the healthcare field remains flat, and existing physicians are reducing the number of patients they are willing to service. Solutions to the shortage are urgently needed experts say.

“We are at a critical juncture,” said Steven Wartman, MD, PhD, president and CEO of the Association of Academic Health Centers. “As the 2014 deadline for most Americans to have health insurance approaches, the healthcare workforce is not ready, and we are quickly running out of time.”

[See also: Physician shortage could affect 7 million due to ACA insurance coverage expansion.]

Wartman testified before Congress in April urging lawmakers to appropriate funds for the National Healthcare Workforce Commission (NHCWC), so that that agency can work to explore solutions for a looming doctor shortage. According to Wartman, the commission was created by Congress in 2010 but did not receive funding. As a result, the commission has yet to meet.

A growing concern by many experts is that without the active work of the commission, there is no one to lead the charge to explore possible solutions to the shortage problem.

[See also: Study finds a team approach could eliminate the physician shortage.]

“There will be a shortage of primary care physicians, some surgical specialists, and some pediatric specialists in this country,” Wartman said. “How can we gen-up the workforce to meet the demands – that is the real challenge.”

“The nation needs an integrated, forward-thinking policy,” he added. “And it needs a healthcare workforce that scales up with the population.”

That hasn’t happened for many years, according to Karl Altenburger, MD, a board member of the Physicians Foundation, a nonprofit group that advocates for physicians.

“From 1980 to 2005, the population of the United States grew by 70 million people, an increase of 31 percent,” Altenburger told Healthcare Finance News. “During that same time, no increase in the number of doctors has been produced.”

The Physicians Foundation has been watching this topic for some time, Altenburger said, worried that a shortage of doctors might be coming. The concern is not just with the number of new physicians entering the field, but with attitudes of those already in it Altenburger said.

In 2008, 2010 and 2012, the Physicians Foundation undertook a comprehensive survey of attitudes of physicians in this country about their practice, the healthcare field overall, and changing regulations governing it. The results were not pretty, Altenburger said.

Data from those surveys reveals a physician population that is increasing frustrated, stressed, over-worked and dissatisfied with having chosen the medical profession for a career.

[See also: Survey reveals dour physician outlook.]

“Sixty percent of physicians say they would retire if they could,” Altenburger stressed.

While many aren’t taking that extreme route, they are reducing the perceived pain.

“Many of the physicians we’ve talked to want to cut back on the number of patients they see,” Altenburger said. The result will be more patients requiring physician services, but having a longer wait to receive them.

Beyond the shortage of doctors, Altenburger also worries about a misalignment of healthcare workers to healthcare needs. This is partially driven by an aging U.S. population. But it will also be impacted by millions of newly insured Americans that have previously priced out of preventive care.

Altenburger said there are other healthcare professionals able to step up and help fill the void temporarily.

“In the interim, there are a number of groups that assist physicians that can do minor diagnostic and treatment care,” Altenburger said. “Under the supervision of a physician, these teams can go very well.”

Altenburger said his hope is that a realignment of healthcare providers to required services will help the nation weather the immediate physician shortage. That will buy the country some time. But the real burden will fall on Congress to act on long-term solutions, he said.