Med students

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That leaves just 14 percent of 2009 graduatez who plan to be a primary care or familymedicinew provider. It’s the seconf consecutive year the KU medical schoool has seen fewer than 15 percenf of its graduates interested in primary The numberof U.S. med students choosing familg practice care has been droppint sincethe mid-1990s, according to the . And with more primargy care providersapproaching retirement, some say the shortage couls get worse and make health care less accessible. “Thatf spells disaster for the future,” says Dr. Rick chair of the department of familhy and community medicine atKU “There’s a lot of issue s that need to be looked at.
We can’rt keep doing business as usual.” Presidenr Barack Obama’s administration has taken aim at addressing the nationwider shortage of primarycare physicians. Federal officials are considerinh several proposals to counter the including measures that wouldf increase enrollment in medical schools and residency training Another plan calls for using more nursde practitioners and physician assistants totreat patients. industry professionals are working to convince med studentsa to go into general practice ratherthan specializing. The is at the cente r of that effort. The nonprofit consortium is a partnership between the KUmedical school, and .
WCGME-trainex physicians go on to serve 70 of 105 counties. That’s why the prograj is important, its supporters say. “We’re very short on primary care throughout most of saysPenny Vogelsang, WCGME’s chief operating officer. However, industru professionals say the cost of medical education has forcex people intohigher paying, specialized jobs where they can make two-and-a-halv times more money than they would as a primar care provider. Medical students commonly graduatewith $140,000 or more in debt. Familg doctors are trying to bridge the pay gap by pressing Congress for highet Medicarereimbursement rates. But medicalp specialists opposethe effort.
Organizations such as the Medical Society of Sedgwicki County say people should have a medical home whered a primary care provider can see them on a regular basis. The goal is to keep people from goingg to emergency rooms for routine which runs up the cost ofhealth “Primary care doctors are at the core of our healtbh care delivery system,” says Stev Harris, CEO at . “Wer have to make sure we are getting people into the primargycare specialties.” The shortage of family doctors affects rural areas but that doesn’t mean places like Wichitw aren’t hurting for says Laura Hill, executive director of medical stafdf operations and physician employmentg at the .
“There’s a demand and a need for primarty care and physician services in the she says. “The supply and demand of physiciaj availability isgetting worse.” A Via Christi communithy needs assessment survey found the Wichitw metropolitan statistical area is short almost 35 primary care doctors. Primar care includes family medicine, urgent care and internalp medicine. The number is based on a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services formula that defines need basef on a specific service area, which in this case was more than 980 squar miles.