When evaluating physician and nurse shortages, consider the source

‘Alarming’ Physician Shortages Lie Ahead, according to a HealthLeaders headline that’s bound to raise your blood pressure. Chances are you’ve seen even scarier articles about the looming nursing shortage, with predictions of a shortage of hundreds of thousands of nurses in the coming decades. We do have serious doctor and nurse workforce issues in this country and we need to plan for the future, but before you get too worked up, it makes sense to consider the source of these pronouncements. The latest doctor shortage warning is brought to us by the Association of American Medical Colleges, a group whose objectives are to expand medical school enrollment and boost federal funding for residency programs. The original article appears in the current Health Affairs issue that’s devoted to “redesigning the health care workforce.” As I mentioned earlier this week (Talking sense about the physician workforce), the issue as a whole is a breath of fresh air in that it is largely free of the alarmist approach to the topic. My favorite articles Expanding Primary Care Capacity By Reducing Waste And Improving The Efficiency Of Care and Accelerating Physician Workforce Transformation Through Competitive Graduate Medical Education Funding demonstrate sound, innovative alternatives to simply jacking up the number of medical students. Maybe HealthLeaders should cover the full issue rather than just the extreme perspective. As I’ve documented...
Source: Health Business Blog - Category: Health Managers Authors: Tags: Physicians Policy and politics Research Association of American Medical Colleges doctor shortage HealthLeaders nursing shortage Source Type: blogs