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The causes of physician shortage in America are multivariate, but not all the causes are complex. Causes range from natural attrition caused by aging into retirement, as well as voluntary attrition caused by rising overhead expenses, and decreased entry into the profession caused by the high cost of entry, decreased number of medical schools, decreasing autonomy, and decreased physician reimbursement for services. In his article “10 factors affecting the physician shortage of the future,” R. C. Coile, Jr. (2003), lists some of the reasons for the current physician shortage:
1.“Boomer” aged physicians are preparing to retire.
2. Female physicians: Numbers women trained in medicine have increased, yet female physicians tend to spend less time in the workforce compared to their male counterparts.
3. Increased cost of medical practice (increase cost of wages, and benefits for employees, as well as increased cost of malpractice insurance.)
4. Decrease in the numbers of medical schools.
5. Passage of healthcare reform has increased the market demand for healthcare services, but the following factors offset this increase in demand:
- Decrease in physician reimbursement by Medicare and medicaid
- High cost of entry into the profession.
Additional causes are population increase caused by in-migration, decreased government funding of medical education, and more comfortable life style demand by younger physicians who tend to shy away from the long work hours dedication of their predecessors (Williams & Torrens, 2010). Actual manifestation of physician shortage will be determined by the extent to which physician assistants and nurse practitioners are able to fulfill expanded roles in patient care delivery in numbers that are sufficient to offset any reduction in physician numbers (Williams & Torrens, 2010).
References
Coile, R. C., Jr. (Sept- Oct. 2003). 10 factors affecting the physician shortage of the future – next. Physician Executive. Retrieved March 7, 2014 from http://connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/11286180/10-factors-affecting-physician-shortage-future
Williams, S, J., and Torrens, P. R. (2010). Introduction to Health Services. United States: CENGAGE Learning. pp. 266-291.
