In just 10 years, New Jersey will need 1,000 more internists and family care physicians and 1,800 more specialists, particularly in pediatrics, geriatrics and anesthesiology.
But physicians in the state are frustrated by the costs of running a practice, low Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements and lack of state legal protection against prohibitively expensive malpractice payments.
The state ranks 48th, behind Florida and Pennsylvania, in high malpractice insurance costs. The report might boost the chances of a tort reform bill a state senator plans to introduce.
The report recommended creating a state health workforce center to further define state shortages and use the data to become eligible for federal financial assistance.
Read the New Jersey Council on Teaching Hospitals’ report on New Jersey physician supply (pdf).
