Wednesday, April 14, 2010

U.S. Faces Shortage of Doctors

The Wall Street Journal reports that there won't be enough doctors to treat the millions of people newly insured under the law. At current graduation and training rates, the nation could face a shortage of as many as 150,000 doctors in the next 15 years, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The greatest demand will be for primary-care physicians. These general practitioners, internists, family physicians and pediatricians will have a larger role under the new law, coordinating care for each patient. The U.S. has 352,908 primary-care doctors now, and the college association estimates that 45,000 more will be needed by 2020. But the number of medical-school students entering family medicine fell more than a quarter between 2002 and 2007.

Read the full article in The Wall Street Journal, or click here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304506904575180331528424238.html

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