Thread: Would Adding Residency Slots Solve the Primary-Care Shortage? - WSJ.com

Would Adding Residency Slots Solve the Primary-Care Shortage? - Health Blog - WSJ

I think the answer has to still be yes, sure a large number of residents go on to become specialists but as the need for specialists declines surely more will stay in primary care. And there will also be a % who actually choose the primary care route from the beginning.

What else could the solution be? How do we encourage more young doctors to pursue primary care? Boost salaries and benefits? In this economy?

Good post btw.

You can increase slots but in the end, what "they" really want is more AMGs choosing primary care. Right now there is no way that is happening. If they increase slots with the current economic climate for primary care, there will only be IMGs competing for FM and IM, and AMGs and highly competitive IMGs will continue to shun primary care for lucrative specialties.

There needs to be tort reform, insurance reform and better reimbursements. No other way around this problem, unless you want PAs and NPs taking care of you.

what's wrong w/ IMGs doing primary care? nothing is wrong w/ that. more slots are needed overall.
AMGs will always choose a better lifestyle if the competitive programs favor them. why wouldn't they? that's something that is never really talked about. a lot of specialties (ortho/neurosurg/opth/derm) will look at AMG and always choose them over IMGs

Originally Posted by AmericanIMG

what's wrong w/ IMGs doing primary care? nothing is wrong w/ that. more slots are needed overall.
AMGs will always choose a better lifestyle if the competitive programs favor them. why wouldn't they? that's something that is never really talked about. a lot of specialties (ortho/neurosurg/opth/derm) will look at AMG and always choose them over IMGs

agreed...what is it 25% of doctors right now were trained outside the US? and a majority of them are in primary care...just think about it...the health of our children, our screening apps, and other routine things that help find the bigger issues are being done by those incompetent SOB's trained outside the US lol oh US healthcare how I loathe you

Lol they're only going to increase slots by 2000 over 10 years, that's 200 a year. If 1000 of the slots are going to Surg, and 1000 are going to Primary care, there will be an increase of 500 PGY1 slots overall by 2020. That's almost NOTHING. And Kronos is right, this slot increase is mostly for IMGs, everyone knows that primary care is becoming more and more the domain of DOs and IMGs, that's why they're putting such a small increase, it doesn't really solve the coming shortage.

There will undoubtedly be a primary care monopoly by NPs (especially with the 'doctrate' of NP program they have now), it would be best for all docs to eventually specialize and not compete with less qualified self proclaimed 'doctors'.

Originally Posted by Shiz77

It would be best for all docs to eventually specialize and not compete with less qualified self proclaimed 'doctors'.

"Best" for whom?

For your career, unless you want to compete with NPs for 90k/year salaries then by all means don't specialize

np and pa's shouldn't be doing self governed primary care. period.

Originally Posted by AmericanIMG

np and pa's shouldn't be doing self governed primary care. period.

physicians ASSISTANT should say it all...