Though enrollment at medical schools has increased in the past several years to accommodate the training of more physicians, medical residencies at hospitals have remained almost constant.
The majority of medical residencies are funded by Medicare; Medicare-funded residency positions have been frozen since 1997. Fewer resident positions mean that some who graduate from medical school will not find a residency after graduation.
This year, Representatives Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Michael Grimm (R-NY) introduced The Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2013 to the House of Representatives. The bill would increase the number of Medicare-funded residencies by 15,000 at a rate of 3,000 per year between 2015 and 2019.
Whether or not these extra residents are necessary, however, is the subject of a contentious debate. While some in the world of healthcare believe the country’s medical system will become gridlocked without additional physicians, others insist that extra physicians are unnecessary and that the removal of inefficiencies in the system will improve patient access to care.
More Articles on Physician Shortage:
Physician Volume Drops: 4 U.S. Regions Feeling the Impact
Study: Team Approach Could Relieve Physician Shortage
Physicians’ Ranks Growing, Graying
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