Physician Shortage Paper

There is a growing trend where physicians are choosing different specialties instead of choosing primary care, primarily due to the low reimbursement rate in primary care. According to Iglehart (2014),” the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) still projects a shortage of 130,000 physicians by 2025, split almost equally between primary and specialty care” (para. 1). With this decline comes an answer, an increase in the number of nurse practitioners providing patient care, reported 154,00 in 2012 and growing every year (Iglehart, 2014). This increase in nurse practitioners’ helps fill that gap, allow greater health care access to the community, especially special populations. By gaining access to healthcare were a nurse practitioner is the provider not only with the special population have high quality affordable health care, a trusting long lasting relationship will develop. This relationship will break the barriers of; lack of trust, lack of health care education and discrimination. Nursing is a trusted profession that provides education and care that no other health care professional

One of the biggest challenges fueling the primary care shortage is the increase in demand mainly due to the population growth, ever increasing aging population and the full implementation of the Affordable Care Act. According to the data released by the economic modeling and forecasting firm, the estimated shortfall of primary care

According to Health Resources and Services Administration If the system for providing primary care in 2020 were to stay fundamentally the same as today, there will be an estimated shortage of 20,400 primary care physicians ("Projecting the Supply and Demand for Primary Care Practitioners Through 2020," n.d.). In addition this projection doesn’t include the decreasing number of people perusing the medical degree and the baby boomers retiring form this filed of science. In the hand we are experiencing a significant increase in NPs and PAs. Considering this projected shortage, which is actually a very frightening situation the increasing number of NPs and PAs, can effectively be integrated; we could reduce the number of physician shortage by over 69 percent in 2020.

deficiencies that appears in the United States has placed the spotlight on the advanced practice nurses, involving nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) to make up for the insufficiency physicians (Kleinpell, Ward, Kelso, Mollenkopf, & Houghton, 2015). With the NPs and PAs coming into the for forth to provide patients with high-quality healthcare at reduce costs. The PAs and NPs continue to inform patients on new medical advancement and treatment pertaining the patients? health conditions to ensure patients continue up-to-date knowledge and to encourage

The rate of enrollment to medical schools in the United States has decreased from previous years, therefore there will be less licensed physicians within the health care field, as the older physicians age out. The growing elderly population in the United States, in need of medical care, is another reason for the increase in need for medical assistants. One last factor is the greater accessibility to health insurance for all. This is driving more people into the health care system, therefore spawning a need for more non-medical professionals, such as medical assistants who can assist on the administrative end to get the patients information into the system for care and

The physician shortage is of highest concern in the United States, especially since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been passed. The question is, do we really have a physician shortage? Is it by geographical region or by specialty? I will explore this question and have several different solutions to the physician shortage problem.

One state, Massachusetts, enacted the legislation guaranteeing universal health coverage, this overwhelmed the state’s primary care physicians by a wave of newly insured patients. This resulted in advanced practice nurses because they

The role of a physician assistant was created specifically to help adjust for the shortages of physicians. Unfortunately, these shortages are occurring in underserved communities that need readily available healthcare facilities and employees. Physician assistants, are trained to be able to handle a wide variety of health disease, and with a background in public health physician assistants are able to extend the “one provider, one patient” mentality and focus on the community as a whole. PAs not only treat disease, but they also promote health, decreasing healthcare demand through preventive care. For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has four foundational health principles that align with the type of care that PAs

Implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has afforded many individuals the opportunity to obtain health insurance, and many of the newly insured are seeking medical services at the same time a primary care provider shortage is unraveling. This is a great time to be a nurse practitioner, as we will be expected to fill the primary care provider shortage gaps. Upon successful completion of this graduate nurse practitioner program, my main focus will be shifted towards obtaining certification in order to be eligible for reimbursement from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

The present healthcare system in the United States (U.S) faces various challenges due to changing demographic, economic and political pressures. The need of primary care provides are increasing as a result of increasing access to healthcare, increasing expenditures, and growing populations of the elderly and chronically ill patients. Even with the plenty of evidences that Nurse Practitioners (NP)are well educated, competent, health care professionals who are able to improve access to high-quality health care and lower health care costs, restrictive practice regulations still exist. The quest for NPs independence practice has surpassed and it became a necessary practice transformation to improve the health of the nation (The National Organization

With advances in medicine, Americans are living longer and with chronic illnesses that require long term medical maintenance. As the population has grown with patients that are aging and becoming sicker in the process, there has presented a shortage of physicians to manage this rise in demand. Now, with the passage of new legislation such as the Affordable Care Act, more patients have access to health care than ever before. Many experts have suggested increasing the utilization of Nurse Practitioners and Physicians assistants as a cost effective resource to tackle to rising cost of healthcare amid a physician shortage in America. Several studies have been performed to assess the viability of these options, to address the advantages and

Economics and health were two independent subjects in high school, but nothing is truly independent in the real world. Supply and demand, one of the principals of economics, perfectly sums up the problem with primary health care. The supply of primary care physicians, also known as PCPs, is lacking by almost 52,000 providers to be able to fulfill the demand of the public within the next couple of years, and this isn’t a new issue (Petterson et al., 2012). Since the 1970’s there has been a shortage of PCPs, and it is becoming a bigger problem as the population grows and ages (Wilensky, 2014). The number of PCPs currently in the United States is not enough to meet the needs of the population. The view of primary care physicians and their salaries need to change in the U.S. to encourage more medical students to enter this much-needed field of practice. This paper will explore the reasons behind the shortage of PCPs and how the Affordable Care Act and the American Nurses Association are addressing this issue.

Recent changes in health insurance coverage and the changing face of the patient population have converged to create a unique healthcare marketplace, rife with opportunities not only for patients but for providers as well. With the passing of the Affordable Health Care Act, 32 million Americans who previously could not afford health care insurance coverage became eligible to purchase affordable healthcare. These patients, therefore, will be able to receive services they have perhaps needed but were previously unable to afford. (Furlow, 2012) The American population includes 75.4 million Baby Boomers, who will be enjoying the retirement years but will be managing chronic health conditions such as COPD, heart disease, and diabetes. (American Hospital Association, 2007) While this increased patient population seeking healthcare services is causing concern for a problematic shortage of physicians, (Raines, 2014) it also heralds new and exciting solutions which include opening doors for midlevel providers, such as Nurse Practitioners and Physician’s Assistants, to succeed as primary healthcare providers in the world of a rapidly changing healthcare system.

The overall health care industry has undergone fundamental change over the last decade. Most of the changes have occurred within the underlying business operation of the healthcare industry. Legislation in particular has had a profound impact on the health care industry. First, due to the Affordable Care Act of 2010, the nursing profession is undergoing a fundamental shift in regards to the patient experience. The U.S. health care system is now shifting the focus from acute and specialty care to that of primary care which requires a shift in business operations. Also, due primarily to that aging of the baby boomer generation, the need for primary car overall is shifting and will be needed heavily in the future. The last 10 years in particular has seen an increasing influx of retiring baby boomers that subsequently need care. A positive impact on the ACA legislation is that more individuals are now insured. As such, the need for primary care will also increase over subsequent years, particular within the minority population. This patient centric approach will require more care predicated on specific communities in a seamless manner. Furthermore, primary care physicians will be in high demand over the coming years.

Primary care practice will be greatly impacted by health care reform. To provide better health care, the country will see a trend away from specialty to primary care and the avoidance of acute issues by delivering this care in the community setting. As a result, primary care physicians will be overwhelmed with the patient load as the number of the insured increases exponentially. The committee recognizes the scope of nursing practice that remains untapped and therefore the profession