Hopkinsville paper examines doctor shortage, reasons for it

Albert Delaney waits for his wife Agnes in Hopkinsville.
(Photo by Kentucky New Era's Tom Kane)

Nick Tabor of the Kentucky New Era examines Christian County's doctor shortage, with the area averaging just one primary care physician for every 2,000 people. It's the latest health story in the small daily newspaper, which is committed to quality health reporting.

The shortage creates problems for residents, who must either travel to another area to see a doctor or go without preventive services because there is no one to see until serious illness occurs. When that happens, that "puts an undue burden" on the local hospital's emergency room.

The shortage is affected by the fact that "primary care physicians, which rural areas need in higher volumers than specialists, are entering the job market at alarmingly low rates," Tabor reports. "More medical students are becoming specialists, as these jobs promise better salaries and hours." Secondly, it is difficult to recruit doctors to rural areas. "Little old Hopkinsville is up against Boston and Chicago and all of these bigger cities," said Teresa Bowers, Jennie Stuart Medical Center's physician recruitment director. "They're not throwing darts at a map and saying, 'I'm going to Hopkinsville.'"

The problem is not a new one. A 2007 report by the Kentucky Institute of Medicine shows there have been shortage issues for decades. "Even if all the barriers that have prevented a sufficient and well-dispersed supply of physicians were suddenly to disappear, the task of recruiting and educating an ample cohort of doctors would take years to accomplish," it reads.

The problem is liken to worsen, however, if the federal health-reform law is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, as 30 million more Americans will have insurance to see the doctor. A recent report found medical school enrollment is up by 30 percent, but more residency placements are needed to accommodate the influx. (Read more)

Serious shortage of primary-care physicians expected in Louisville

An aging population, a high number of doctors getting ready to retire, and medical students opting to specialize for better pay and hours are all factors contributing to an expected shortage in primary-care doctors in Louisville.

"By 2020, Jefferson County will need 455 new primary-care doctors — almost as many as the number that work in local medical practices now," reports Patrick Howington for The Courier-Journal. (C-J photo by Matt Stone)

"We see a real workforce crisis in the future — in the immediate future," said Bill Wagner, executive director of Family Health Centers, a group of community clinics that serve low-income residents.

One survey of local physicians found about a third of doctors are 56 or older and are planning to retire within 10 years. Couple that statistic with the fact that the number of American medical-school seniors who entered family-medicine residencies fell from 17 percent in 1997 to 8 percent last year, Association of American Medical Colleges figures show. Part of the reason for the drop is the comparatively low salaries primary care physicians make. On average, they are paid as little as half as much as specialists, such as radiologists and invasive cardiologists.

Though doctor shortages have typically been seen as a rural problem, that's not so anymore. "No matter where you're talking about, we clearly have an aging primary care workforce," because primary care has been "so unpopular," said Dan Varga, chief medical officer of Kentucky's St. Joseph hospitals and a former Louisville internist. (Read more)