Posting date: March 15, 2005

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Health Affairs, 10.1377/hlthaff.w5.108
Copyright © 2005 by Project HOPE

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The Physician Workforce Crisis: Where Is The Evidence?

¹ David Goodman is a professor of pediatrics and of community and family medicine at the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Dartmouth Medical School, in Hanover, New Hampshire.

^*Corresponding author.

Abstract

Barbara Starfield and colleagues present evidence that having more primary care physicians and fewer specialists per capita is associated with lower mortality rates. These analyses stand in contrast to those guiding national workforce policy recommendations, which use current physician-to-population ratios as a normative reference for future physician requirements. Proponents of physician training expansion need to establish a body of evidence that having additional physicians will lead to improved health and well-being of patients and populations. Research to date, in contrast, indicates that physician workforce levels, particularly of specialists, are not a primary factor in determining health outcomes.

Key Words: Access To Care, Consumer Issues, Health Promotion/Disease Prevention, Health Reform, International Issues, Physicians, Workforce Issues

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