Doctor Shortage Research Paper

Americas Doctor shortage.
The Problem:
The U.S. is experiencing a shortage of doctors and expected to get worse in the next 10 years. According to Association of American Medical College(AAMC) the U.S. will face a shortage of physicians between the amount 46,100 and 90,000 and another 12,500 to 31,000 primary care physicians by the year 2025. The Affordable Care Act is expected to accelerate this rate specially because the baby boomers are getting old. With their aging comes complex conditions like arthritis, high blood pressure, pulmonary disease, diabetes, and cancer. These conditions will require a lot of medical attention. So, the problem is that not enough doctors are produced to keep up with the changing demographic that will change over the next ten years.

The Cause of the Shortage:

The shortage of doctors was started back in the 1980’s when the projections of physicians was expected to be over demanded which led to bad decisions and bad public policy on funding for medical education by policymakers.

Currently hospitals train between 27,000 to 29,000 doctors at annually cost of $152,000 via the Medicare program. But some argue that most doctors are clustered in cities leaving rural and poor Americans critically underserved. And another reason is finical reason, doctors who choose to specialize will make more money in the millions than a primary care physicians. One reason why finical is the cause is student debt, an average medical student debt can build up to around $180,000 by the end of medical school. And on the other hand, a primary doctor will take years to pay back their student debt and what makes it worse is the interest rate that builds over the years. These are some factors that will cause shortage of doctors in the

U.S.

Solutions for the Shortage:
Solutions to the shortage of doctors can start at the government level. Organization like AAMC recommend that the federal cap on slots for medical resident should be raise at teaching hospitals by 3,000 annually at an estimated cost of 1 billion dollars. Currently the government provides $40,000 yearly to train each U.S. physicians to hospital at cost of $152,000 per year. Another solution could be reimbursement to doctor who choose to work in rural areas or poor communities. This will peruse doctors to choose primary care instead of specialties because it will help pay lower student debts and finish medical school faster. Like some states help doctors who work in rural area pay off medical school debt runs into the six figures, if they agree. A third solution could be either training more midlevel practitioners by changing regulations or licensing. These ideas could help improve the shortage of doctors.

My opinion:
My opinion on the shortage of doctors is due medical school and residency is harsh on the students. To me, I think residency is hardest part of a medical student because of the long harsh hours worked. I personally know a current doctor who struggle during medical school. He was beyond stress when it came to the MCAT. He wanted to reach a high score, so he will be accepted into University of Miami Medical school but failed. He ended up in some Caribbean island to accomplish his dream to be doctor. I think medical exam should be set to a reasonable score where people could choose to be practitioners or primary care doctors.