At the same time, younger male physicians and women -- who constitute half of all medical students -- are less inclined to work the slavish hours that long typified the profession. As a result, this new generation of physicians is expected to be 10% less productive, Edward Salsberg, the director of the Assn. of American Medical Colleges' Center for Workforce Studies, told a congressional committee in May.

Although there are some areas with a glut of physicians, shortages have arrived in many places. One in five U.S. residents lives in a rural or urban area that has so few physicians that the federal government considers it to be medically underserved.


This scarcity hit home for Dr. Robert Werra when tryin to find a family practitioner to replace him as he retired from a medical group in the Northern California city of Ukiah. Despite nibbles from physicians in the Midwest, Werra couldn't persuade a single one to pay a visit. In the end, his patients were added to his colleagues' caseloads, extending wait times in a practice that is now closed to newcomers.

"We can't get any family doctors to come here," said Werra, 75.

Experts worry that Werra's problem is not just in rural communities and becoming more common. The nation's physician workforce is approaching a tipping point, beyond which patients face dangerously long wait times and distances to see physicians. Or care will come from nurses, physician assistants, and others, whose ranks are already stretched thin.

Reposted with thanks to the Los Angeles Times.

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