Wisconsin - Calling All Physicians
November 13th, 2008 by Candice Chen (email author)On Nov. 10, the Wisconsin Council on Medical Education and Workforce released an update to its 2004 report Who Will Care for Our Patients? The report is well researched and well thought out. It concludes Wisconsin has a current maldistribution of physicians within the state and a current shortfall of 374 primary care physicians. However, one of the report recommendations particularly struck me. The recommendation -
Attract physicians to Wisconsin and keep them here.
In fact, the physician workforce issue is a national issue. In Oct. 2008, the AAMC reported on 22 state reports on physician shortages and 5 national studies on the physician workforce. Simply pulling physicians to our own state of choice will not solve the problem.
Wisconsin is at the head of the class on the physician workforce issue. The very existence of the Council on Medical Education and Workforce, a result of the 2004 report, is an indicator of the level of collaboration of both private and public organizations within the state to address this critical issue. And it is appropriate to have state level organizations examining this issue, as physician workforce needs will vary depending on current state and local workforce compositions and needs for healthcare. But the question is - if Wisconsin is successful, what happens to the workforce needs and the health status of the states they recruit from?
The Wisconsin recommendation points to the need for a national level “council” to develop a US physician workforce that meets the needs of all states and communities. It is quickly becoming clear that a well thought out physician workforce will be a critical component to any kind of health care reform. It’s time to make this issue a priority and develop a national level health care workforce institute with the funding and political will needed to provide the research, analysis and guidance to create this workforce.