The Solution to the Physician Shortage Requires Changing Incentives

January 25, 2016 - It's not enough just to train and hire more doctors. As legislators and the healthcare industry continue to search for ways to deal with the shortage of physicians, it has become clear that the solution is more complicated than simply training a bunch of new doctors, according to a story from Marketplace.

The key lies in adding the right type of doctors to communities facing a shortage. The greatest need lies in treating chronic conditions, but medical school graduates have a strong incentive to become specialists simply because there's more money in specialty areas than there is in primary practice: The average specialist earned $284,000 in the United States last year, compared to $195,000 for primary care physicians, according to Medscape survey data.

The end of the "primary care pay bump" may be further complicating matters in the short term, as FiercePracticeManagement has previously reported.

However, an expansion of team-based care can pick up some of the slack, Linda Green, professor of healthcare management at Columbia Business School, suggests to Marketplace. She specifically recommends state-level actions to broaden nurse practitioners' (NPs) scope as a way to spread the load and wring additional productivity out of the existing pool of physicians.

Interest in expanding the use of nonphysician practitioners has been spurred by research showing their value in managing chronic disease, and recent trends do indicate physicians are increasingly bringing NPs on board.

Both of these trends have been helped along by the ongoing response to Medicare's move toward a value-based payment model. If, as expected, this shift leads to increased emphasis on preventive care and the potential for higher reimbursements for primary care doctors in the future, that could realign the incentives currently at odds with a solution to the physician shortage, per the story.

By Matt Kuhrt
Posted on FiercePracticeManagement

To learn more:
- read or listen to the story on Marketplace

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