There is no doctor shortage

[MacGyver]

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060614/LIFESTYLE03/606140374/1005/LIFESTYLE


At least, there is no doctor shortage in Detroit.

Yes, this is anecdotal. Yes, this does not PROVE anything nationwide.

But for everybody screaming about a doctor shortage, please take note of hte quote below:

"Doctors want patients and they want to be available," said Charles Dobis, president of the Michigan Medical Group Management Association, a trade group that represents medical practices. "That's the trend. You see everyone trying to be more conscious of customer service."

Doctors changing their schemes to attract new patients? Sounds like a doctor surplus to me.

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[flyingbridge]

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060614/LIFESTYLE03/606140374/1005/LIFESTYLE
...
Doctors changing their schemes to attract new patients? Sounds like a doctor surplus to me.

Try emergency medicine. Apparently, they have openings. So do the so-called underserved areas (I rather call them the under-funded and hence, ignored, areas). But if it's cosmetic tummy-tuck work or cushy offices in suburban DC you look at, heck yes, there's plenty of MDs to go around!

 

[LADoc00]

Missing the point here...there is a shortage of MDs...a shortage of those that will work for piss and peanuts.

 

[NonTradMed]

Doctors shortages exist in rural areas and in poor regions. Physicians aren't necessarily starving in rural areas, but it's not where most physicians want to live.

 

[nebrfan]

Doctors shortages exist in rural areas and in poor regions. Physicians aren't necessarily starving in rural areas, but it's not where most physicians want to live.

Actually - out here in rural nebraska (that is...everything outside of Omaha-Lincoln area) docs are doing quite well. I remember reading a study a while back (i will see if i can find it later) showing that rural docs end up making more in useable income due to the lower cost of living as compared to urban practices.

 

[EndSong]

There certainly is a doctor is some very critical areas. Primarily family care - OBGYN, family practice and ER. I mean if you want a tummy tuck, you can probably find about 2-40 surgeons in your local area that can help. But that field does well, there's a growing demand and probably a growing supply. But when a major disaster strikes, like a major pile up on the freeway, 5 lil doctors ain't going to be able to do much for the 40 or so injured.

 

[Red Beard]

Try emergency medicine. Apparently, they have openings. So do the so-called underserved areas (I rather call them the under-funded and hence, ignored, areas). But if it's cosmetic tummy-tuck work or cushy offices in suburban DC you look at, heck yes, there's plenty of MDs to go around!

Your first link makes no claim that there is a shortage of physicians, only that emergency departments can't seem to get reimbursed for the care they are giving.

 

[OSUdoc08]

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060614/LIFESTYLE03/606140374/1005/LIFESTYLE


At least, there is no doctor shortage in Detroit.

Yes, this is anecdotal. Yes, this does not PROVE anything nationwide.

But for everybody screaming about a doctor shortage, please take note of hte quote below:



Doctors changing their schemes to attract new patients? Sounds like a doctor surplus to me.

The doctor shortage is pending, as soon as the baby boomers get to the age where they need constant care. We aren't there yet.

 

[latinfridley]

Someones gonna have to fill the PCP gap. Here is more evidence for predicting a coming doc' shortage:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/business/22doctors.html

 

[mshheaddoc]

Someones gonna have to fill the PCP gap. Here is more evidence for predicting a coming doc' shortage:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/business/22doctors.html

Why do you think there has been a push for mid-level practioner "rights"? As well as Walmart healthcare clinics ...

 

[KingTutATL]

The doctor shortage is pending, as soon as the baby boomers get to the age where they need constant care. We aren't there yet.

Exactly what I was going to say.

 

[bananaface]

There is a shortage of Medicaid accepting PCPs in my area. But, no shortage of PCPs.

 

[pnoybballin]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-doctors4jun04,0,1528090.story?coll=la-home-headlines

 

[HTD]

There is a shortage of Medicaid accepting PCPs in my area. But, no shortage of PCPs.

Thank you. This echo's the less eloquent but true "piss and peanuts" by LADOC. The press seems to be shocked that we would train for so long and want to be herded into the economic slaughter house.

I do worry that the new breed of "light load" training is going to produce professionals less willing to fight for what they have earned. It is to our detriment that none of the skills and education required to enter medical training include business sense or skills. I certainly have taken note that while decades of "tough love" training has produced perhaps the best medical care in the world, it has not produced physicans, as a group, that have any will to stand up and fight for their profession.

 

[LADoc00]

There is a shortage of Medicaid accepting PCPs in my area. But, no shortage of PCPs.

Oh, awesome dog. Having just seen the Hills Have Eyes, I may have to get one of those to fight off evil mutants.

 

[R.P. McMurphy]

Oh, awesome dog. Having just seen the Hills Have Eyes, I may have to get one of those to fight off evil mutants.

the hills have eyes was possibly the most f-ed up movie i have ever seen

 

[saradoor]

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060614/LIFESTYLE03/606140374/1005/LIFESTYLE


At least, there is no doctor shortage in Detroit.

Yes, this is anecdotal. Yes, this does not PROVE anything nationwide.

But for everybody screaming about a doctor shortage, please take note of hte quote below:



Doctors changing their schemes to attract new patients? Sounds like a doctor surplus to me.

I think AAMC disagrees with your assertion.
see: http://www.aamc.org/newsroom/pressrel/2006/060619.htm

Excerpts:
"Citing growing evidence of a national physician shortage, the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) today recommended that enrollment in U.S. medical schools be increased 30 percent by 2015. This expansion would result in an additional 5,000 new M.D. students annually and should be accomplished by boosting enrollment at existing schools, as well as by creating new allopathic medical schools."

 

[SamSpade]

I've solved the problem. First, the AMA steps in and says DO's can't do MD residencies anymore. They have to do their own. The AOA can tell the DO graduates that they better do primary care, or else. Then, the AMA makes a special match for foreign graduates. They can match at the underserved/primary care/rural medicine place of their choice. This way, we fill spots that need to be filled and prevent a glut of specialists.

 

[OSUdoc08]

I've solved the problem. First, the AMA steps in and says DO's can't do MD residencies anymore. They have to do their own. The AOA can tell the DO graduates that they better do primary care, or else. Then, the AMA makes a special match for foreign graduates. They can match at the underserved/primary care/rural medicine place of their choice. This way, we fill spots that need to be filled and prevent a glut of specialists.

I'm not sure how the AMA has any authority over ACGME residencies. They are not affiliated.

I'm not sure why the AOA would force graduates into primary care residencies, since the AOA itself has a multitude of specialty and subspecialty programs.

With the nature of the training in a DO school, I don't see getting DO's to enter primary care a problem. The major problem is that they only make up a single digit percentage of US physicians. The major group of primary care physicians is and should be coming from MD residencies in gross numbers.

 

[f_w]

I've solved the problem. First, the AMA steps in and says DO's can't do MD residencies anymore. They have to do their own. The AOA can tell the DO graduates that they better do primary care, or else. Then, the AMA makes a special match for foreign graduates. They can match at the underserved/primary care/rural medicine place of their choice. This way, we fill spots that need to be filled and prevent a glut of specialists.

Yeah, you concept worked great: For Canada. They obviously don't have a doctor shortage and their rural areas are perfectly covered.

 

[Margaritaville]

The AOA can tell the DO graduates that they better do primary care, or else.

You apparently haven't heard that the majority of DO graduates already go into primary care fields...