Can We Solve the Doctor Shortage?
Posted at 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 30
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will push legislation to “address a primary-care physician shortage that could balloon next year as millions of uninsured Americans get coverage under the healthcare reform law,” Modern Healthcare reports.
“Sanders said his legislation will fund ‘a significant expansion’ of community health centers and the National Health Service Corps; require membership changes in the American Medical Association advisory panel on Medicare payment rates; and require teaching hospitals to focus on training more primary-care physicians.”
“Several senators blamed the AMA’s Relative Value Scale Update Committee for leading Medicare to pay primary-care physicians at lower rates than the program pays other physicians… Medical schools and teaching hospitals also drew the ire of hearing witnesses for discouraging a primary-care focus by their participants in favor of more prestigious specialties.”
