US Facing Growing Shortage Of Primary Care Physicians

The Boston Globe (6/23, A1, Brown) reports in a front-page story about the growing shortage of primary care physicians in America. The Association of American Medical Colleges “predicts a shortage of 45,000 primary care doctors by 2020.” Young physicians are being “drawn to lucrative specialties,” unwilling to replace veterans physicians that are leaving primary care “faster than they can be replaced.” According to Fitzhugh Mullan, a George Washington University policy researcher, less than one-third of physicians in the US work in primary care today, “and that number is slipping.” Educators are “redoubling their efforts to win over medical students,” but primary care physicians work “long hours” and make half of what specialists make, according to a 2015 survey by Medscape. The Boston Globe notes some analysts argue there is a “bias against primary care” that begins in medical schools, which encourage the “smartest people” to go into more competitive, prestigious fields.