Thanks To Obamacare, A 20,000 Doctor Shortage Is Set To Quintuple

[dblack]

There is a provision in ObamaCare that allows physicians to strike out on their own

Link? Which provision is that?

If you had taken the time to listen to the Dr. in the link I provided above, you would not have had to ask a dumb question!

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So, in other words, you don't know. Anybody else seen the provision that allows this? I sure hope it's for real.

 

[Polk]

A recall that we only have a doctor shortage because the AMA places an artificial limit on the number of doctors that can enter the market each year.

There's a persuasive case to be made that the "shortage" is less an artifact of the size of the workforce than it is of how (poorly and inefficiently) we use that workforce today. Elliot Fisher made it just this week in the Wall Street Journal:

The problem facing health care today isn't that we need more doctors. The problem is that we still get care the old-fashioned way, which makes it appear that we need more doctors.

Yes, it takes days to get an appointment. But all too often the visit leads to a test we don't need, a diagnosis of a disease we shouldn't treat, or a procedure we wouldn't have chosen if we had been better informed. Meanwhile, the health-care payment system, which ensures that each service and test ordered will be reimbursed, keeps clinics full and costs rising.

So, our problem isn't a shortage of physicians, it is a failure to organize care.

Consider that some 20% to 30% of health-care services are unnecessary. That estimate was first identified by Dartmouth research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2003, comparing the quality of care in different regions for patients with hip fracture, heart attack and colon cancer. Other sources have independently conducted studies that come to similar conclusions.

Despite what critics say, the data in the Dartmouth studies were carefully adjusted to take into account differences in the health of the populations studied. But the larger point is this: Our studies have found no evidence of a region having better care for having a greater number of doctors. On the contrary: Doctors in regions with more physicians (and more primary-care physicians) reported greater difficulty making referrals to specialists and coordinating care, compared with doctors in regions with fewer physicians.

Clearly, adding more physicians to the old system isn't the answer.

I agree in part (we do use a lot of resources ineffectively), but more doctors are definitely part of the solution.

 

[dblack]

A recall that we only have a doctor shortage because the AMA places an artificial limit on the number of doctors that can enter the market each year.

There's a persuasive case to be made that the "shortage" is less an artifact of the size of the workforce than it is of how (poorly and inefficiently) we use that workforce today. Elliot Fisher made it just this week in the Wall Street Journal:

The problem facing health care today isn't that we need more doctors. The problem is that we still get care the old-fashioned way, which makes it appear that we need more doctors.

Yes, it takes days to get an appointment. But all too often the visit leads to a test we don't need, a diagnosis of a disease we shouldn't treat, or a procedure we wouldn't have chosen if we had been better informed. Meanwhile, the health-care payment system, which ensures that each service and test ordered will be reimbursed, keeps clinics full and costs rising.

So, our problem isn't a shortage of physicians, it is a failure to organize care.

Consider that some 20% to 30% of health-care services are unnecessary. That estimate was first identified by Dartmouth research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2003, comparing the quality of care in different regions for patients with hip fracture, heart attack and colon cancer. Other sources have independently conducted studies that come to similar conclusions.

Despite what critics say, the data in the Dartmouth studies were carefully adjusted to take into account differences in the health of the populations studied. But the larger point is this: Our studies have found no evidence of a region having better care for having a greater number of doctors. On the contrary: Doctors in regions with more physicians (and more primary-care physicians) reported greater difficulty making referrals to specialists and coordinating care, compared with doctors in regions with fewer physicians.

Clearly, adding more physicians to the old system isn't the answer.

I agree in part (we do use a lot of resources ineffectively), but more doctors are definitely part of the solution.

Yes. And it's naive in the extreme (or perhaps just intentionally dishonest) to deny that limiting supply keeps prices artificially high.

 

[Polk]

I don't think Greenbeard is trying to say that.

 

[realinvestment]

you voted for it, enjoy.

SNIP:'

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Typical scene at a local emergency room
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Obamacare is set to provide some 16 million people with health insurance through Medicaid or the new exchanges next year. Unfortunately, their policies may not be worth much — as they may not be able to actually get care.

America is suffering from a doctor shortage. An influx of millions of new patients into the healthcare system will only exacerbate that shortage — driving up the demand for care without doing anything about its supply. Those who get their coverage through Medicaid or the exchanges may feel the effects of the shortage even more acutely, as many providers are opting not to accept their insurance.

Right now, the United States is short some 20,000 doctors, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. The shortage could quintuple over the next decade, thanks to the aging of the American population — and the aging and consequent retirement of many physicians. Nearly half of the 800,000-plus doctors in the United States are over the age of 50.

Obamacare is further thinning the doctor corps. A Physicians Foundation survey of 13,000 doctors found that 60 percent of doctors would retire today if they could, up from 45 percent before the law passed.

Doctors are also becoming choosier about whom they’ll see.

all of it here
Thanks To Obamacare, A 20,000 Doctor Shortage Is Set To Quintuple - Forbes

What's wrong with letting a few more people into Medical School? For years, most students who want to become a doctor have been denied the opportunity for that career.