The Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) announced last Friday the results of a study that reveals a potential shortage of primary care physicians.
According to the new national study conducted by HSC, an exodus of men from primary care practice is driving a marked shift in the physician workforce toward such specialties as cardiology and dermatology.
The study also revealed that two factors have helped mask the severity of the shift from primary care - a growing proportion of female physicians, who disproportionately choose primary care, and continued reliance on international medical graduates, who now account for nearly a quarter of all U.S. primary care physicians, HSC researchers said.
Data revealed in the study, titled "Exodus of Male Physicians from Primary Care Drives Shift to Specialty Practice," shows a 40 percent increase in female primary care physicians, helping to offset a 16 percent decline in the number of male primary care physicians since 1996.
At the same time, incomes for primary care physicians have declined and women in primary care face a 22 percent income gap relative to men, the study showed.
"If real incomes for primary care physicians continue to decline, there is a risk that the migration of male physicians will intensify and that female physicians may begin avoiding primary care - trends that could aggravate a predicted shortage of primary care physicians," said Paul Ginsburg, president of HSC, a nonpartisan policy research organization funded principally by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
According to Ha Tu, coauthor of the study and HSC senior researcher, "As the U.S. population ages and many of the 76 million baby boomers develop multiple chronic conditions, an adequate supply of primary care physicians will be critical to meet the nation's health care needs."