As millions of new patients gain insurance under health reform, medical schools may be partly to blame for worsening the physician shortage, which now is expected to reach 130,000 by 2025, Bloomberg reported.
That's because Congress, which funds more than 75 percent of residency programs that train new doctors, has capped the number of Medicare-funded residency slots since 1997.
So when Affordable Care Act provisions kick in, the industry will have to treat more patients with fewer physicians being trained, the article noted.
Moreover, without congressional intervention, graduate medical education (GME) financing could face significant cuts next year, reported Medscape Medical News. Less GME funding would further aggravate the nation's already strained physician supply.
To close the gap between the number of physicians being trained and the number of physicians that will be needed, legislators are sponsoring bills to raise the residency cap, Bloomberg noted.
"It is an expense that is necessary," Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.), who is cosponsoring such legislation, told the news outlet.
Similar legislation was proposed in March to boost the number of Medicare-supported residency slots at New York hospitals by 15 percent, or 15,000 spots, over five years. However, the increase will cost between $10 billion to $15 billion over 10 years, FierceHealthcare previously reported.
Such issues were examined in a Health Affairs policy brief earlier this month. Key questions included whether the United States is training enough doctors and whether federal support for GME is too costly.
To learn more:
- read the Bloomberg article
- check out the Medscape Medical News article
- read the Health Affairs policy brief