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AAMC updates physician-shortage projections

 

The American Association of Medical Colleges says that America will have a shortage of physicians of from 61,700 to 94,700 over the next decade.

This report updates a 2015 projection that estimated that the nation would need 46,100 to 90,400 more physicians by 2025, though that is   still below a 2010 estimate that projected a shortage of 130,600 physicians by 2025. (These ranges sure are wide!)

Becker’s Hospital Review says that “the year’s report uses the same microsimulation model and scenarios as used for last year’s projections, but it includes updates to supply and demand data and refined medical school graduate data, and it more fully integrates the effects of the growing ranks of physician assistants.”

“Perhaps most striking is the addition of an analysis on the needs of underserved Americans that shows how many more physicians the country would need if these patients were able to fully utilize healthcare. These numbers are not included in the overall projections because they only provide estimates for 2014 levels of care.”

But maybe even more surprising is that study found only small effects from the Affordable Care Act on physician demand.


NPs making slow headway to widen scope of practice

 

Nurse practitioners are making inroads in some states in getting more clinical authority but are still blocked in some states by physician groups fearing that giving nonphysician clinicians a wider scope of practice would cut into the income of  doctors, who remain by far the highest paid in the world.

Advanced nurse practitioners  have been fighting for years for the right to write prescriptions  and  operate practices without an agreement with a physician.

The pressure to expand the scope of nurse practitioners’ practice has intensified with studies saying that many millions of Americans live in areas with primary-care physician shortages.

A wider scope of practice would include, for instance, letting nurse practitioners diagnose patients, order tests, complete death certificates and initiate involuntary psychiatric commitment for unstable patients without a supervisory relationship with a physician.

Modern Healthcare says that “Physicians say advanced nurse practitioners can help alleviate the primary-care shortage, but only if they are a part of a coordinated team led by a doctor. ”
Robert Wergin, M.D., chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians told the publication:

“What we’re for is team-based care where it’s the right provider, the right care at the right time. Everyone contributes to the care, but we’re not necessarily interchangeable.”

“Independent practice and team-based care take healthcare delivery in two very different directions,” an American Medical Association spokeswoman added. “One approach would further compartmentalize and fragment healthcare delivery, while team-based care fosters greater integration and coordination.”

 


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