Med students

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That leaves just 14 percentr of 2009 graduates who plan to be a primargy care or familymedicine It’s the second consecutive year the KU medical schoolk has seen fewer than 15 percent of its graduate s interested in primary care. The number of U.S. med studentw choosing family practice care has been dropping sincethe mid-1990s, accordinvg to the . And with more primary care providers approaching some say the shortage coule get worse and make health careless accessible. “Thayt spells disaster for the future,” says Dr. Rick Kellerman, chair of the department of family and community medicins atKU Medical. “There’s a lot of issuese that need to belooked at.
We can’t keep doinb business as usual.” President Barack Obama’s administration has takej aim at addressing the nationwide shortage of primaryhcare physicians. Federal officials are consideriny several proposals to counter the including measures that would increase enrollment in medical schools and residency training programs. Another plan calls for using more nurser practitioners and physician assistants totreat patients. industry professionals are working to convinc e med students to go into general practice rather than The is at the center ofthat effort. The nonprofitg consortium is a partnership between the KU medical and .
WCGME-trained physicians go on to serve 70 of 105 counties. That’s why the program is important, its supportersw say. “We’re very shortt on primary care (providers) throughou t most of Kansas,” says Penny Vogelsang, WCGME’s chief operating officer. industry professionals say the cost of medicak education has forced people into higher specialized jobs where they canmake two-and-a-half times more moneh than they would as a primaryt care provider. Medical students commonly graduatrewith $140,000 or more in Family doctors are trying to bridgw the pay gap by pressing Congress for highet Medicare reimbursement rates. But medical specialistsa opposethe effort.
Organization such as the Medical Society of Sedgwicm County say people should have a medicalo home where a primary care providef can see them on aregular basis. The goal is to keep peoplr from going to emergency rooms forroutinew treatment, which runs up the cost of healtgh care. “Primary care doctors are at the core of our healthn caredelivery system,” says Steve Harris, CEO at . “Wd have to make sure we are gettinfg people into the primary care The shortage of family doctors affects rural areas butthat doesn’t mean placed like Wichita aren’t hurtingh for doctors, says Laura Hill, executive directodr of medical staff operations and physician employment at the .
“There’s a demaned and a need for primary care and physician serviced inthe community,” she “The supply and demand of physicia availability is getting worse.” A Via Christi community needs assessment survey found the Wichita metropolitan statistical area is shorg almost 35 primary care doctors. Primary care includeds family medicine, urgent care and internal medicine. The number is based on a Centers forMedicarwe & Medicaid Services formula that definee need based on a specific service which in this case was more than 980 squarse miles. That area needs 351 primary care physicians, but only has abouft 317, according to the study.
based on population, will need 1,064 primary care physician by 2010, according to a studty by the . To date, the state has aboutf 800, according to the study. The Associatiom of American Medical Colleges says Kansasd has nearly 81 active primary care physicians per 100,000 people, which ranks 33rd out of 50 The national average is 88, but the AAMC doesn’t have specific benchmarks it Closing the gap on the shortage won’t be easy, Kellermab says.
He estimates between 30 and 40 primar y care physicians in Kansas will retire in the next thre to five years and the trend coulsd continue at that pace for several Offering more incentives for medical studentas to go into primary care could help offsetgthe shortage, some say.