The Next Health Care Crisis - PCLT
While the COVID-19 pandemic has much of the world focused on emergency and ICU medicine — rightly so, there is another crisis that will impact our health care system that we can’t take our eye off of — a shortage of primary care physicians (PCPs). As fewer medical students choose primary care, Americans will be left with even fewer PCPs to look after them, and a surplus of subspecialists in the health care system.
While the COVID-19 pandemic has much of the world focused on emergency and ICU medicine — rightly so, there is another crisis that will impact our health care system that we can’t take our eye off of — a shortage of primary care physicians (PCPs). As fewer medical students choose primary care, Americans will be left with even fewer PCPs to look after them, and a surplus of subspecialists in the health care system. The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts a shortage of up to 55,000 primary care physicians by 2032, even as a growing number of baby boomers and increasing obesity rates prompt an expanding need for them. It is known that states with a higher ratio of primary care physicians have better health and lower rates of mortality. Patients who regularly see a primary care physician also have lower health costs than those without one. So why aren’t more medical students going into primary care?