AAFP Workforce Report Reaches Next Generation

The American Medical Student Association, or AMSA, has endorsed the AAFP Family Physician Workforce Reform report (PDF file: 12 pages / 123 KB. More about PDFs.) and commended the Academy for its leadership in addressing primary care workforce issues. The association's action reflects a growing recognition that a thriving primary care workforce is fundamental to a strong health care system, according to AMSA President Jay Bhatt.

"The results of this study confirm what most of us already feel -- that the current health care system is failing to meet the needs of most Americans and needs a great deal of reform," Bhatt said in an Oct. 2 AMSA news release announcing the association's endorsement of the AAFP report, which heralds a coming primary care shortage. "AMSA commends the AAFP for its efforts in preventing the predicted shortage and hopes that educational institutions and policy-makers will begin taking serious measures to encourage more physicians to practice primary care, particularly family medicine."

The Family Physician Workforce Reform report points to numerous studies demonstrating that meaningful health system reform depends on a primary care-based system. Given the growing shortage of family physicians, the report recommends funding primary care -- particularly family medicine residency program training -- at a level that will produce a total of 4,439 family medicine graduates each year by 2020. That graduation level is needed to ensure that 30 percent of ambulatory care is provided by family physicians by 2020.

The shortage of primary care physicians also has sparked concern among medical colleagues, educators and legislators. The Association of American Medical Colleges has called for a 30 percent increase in medical school enrollment, and in June, the AMA House of Delegates approved Resolution 613, which calls for comprehensive health care reform and a report recommending action on increasing primary care physicians' payment to increase interest in primary care careers.

The AMA's Council on Medical Education Report "Impact of Increasing Specialization and Declining Generalism in the Medical Profession" (MS Word file: 25 pages/142 KB. More about downloading files.) recommends that the association "encourage physician reimbursement changes which would make generalist physician practice more attractive."

The primary care workforce also has become a topic of discussion during hearings before Congress. Recently, Rep. Lois Capps, D-Calif., addressed the issue during a Sept. 28 House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health hearing on Medicare physician payment. She pointed out that access to physicians "may be a moot point, with the knowledge that there's been such a decline in (numbers of) physicians, family physicians especially."