Attracting qualified physicians to underserved areas. Part 1: Why has the U.S. experienced such difficulty?
With health networks searching for additional market share and with a projected 30.2 million to be enrolled in Medicaid HMOs by 2000, more health executives will be weighing various strategies of how to attract qualified physicians to practice in poor inner-city and rural areas. Most frequently cited as solutions are: supplying more physicians, encouraging more medical school graduates to pursue primary care residencies, and modifying the number of international medical graduates entering U.S. residency programs. Part 1 of this article reviews the efficacy of these approaches, while the second part, which will appear in the January/February 1999 issue, explores a more pragmatic option: to simply improve the working conditions and just pay substantially more to physicians who practice in "less desirable" locations.
Weil
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Bedford Health Associates, Inc., Asheville, NC, USA. Tpweil@aol.com
D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate / Q000639:trends*; D005843:Geography; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006291:Health Policy; D006280:Health Workforce; D006780:Hospitals, Rural; D008484:Medicaid / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D010560:Personnel Selection; D010820:Physicians / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D011365:Professional Practice Location; D019035:Rural Health Services; D014481:United States