Primary care physicians (PCPs) play a vital role in our healthcare system. Yet, recently, there has been a shortage in the supply of PCPs, and the supply is unable to serve the needs of the growing patient population, especially those living in rural areas or under government insurance programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Due to the lack of PCP supply and the increasing number of patients, the delivery of care and quality of care have suffered as well. There is a limited interaction between a patient and physician, there is a delay of treatment, and there is a large amount of Medicaid patients who are unable to find PCPs that can accept them. Today, over sixty million Americans rely on Medicaid as their primary source of health care (Bachrach, 2010). “The federal government has studied the …show more content…
Simply put, shortage is “The excess of the quantity demanded over the quantity supplied at market prices” (The Economics of Health and Health Care). In Figure 1 below, the graph can be used to illustrate a primary care physician shortage. The health manpower shortage at the wage W1 is equal to Ld1 – Ls1. However, if wage has increased to W2, shortage would no longer exist. This depicts the theory that at a higher wage, there is less demand for labor services and more would have been supplied. In order to minimize the negative impact of a physician shortage, changes must be made, and this concept here suggests a financial reimbursement may be useful in addressing the shortage of PCPs and the lack of care provided to Medicaid patients. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) has created insurance provisions that has intentions to increase the Medicaid coverage while appropriately reimbursing physicians for this new surplus of patients without offsetting government expenditures. The accommodation maintains the health insurance expansion while incentivizes the physician
Lischko A. (2011). Physician payment reform: A review and update of the models. Massachusetts medical society.
There are many possibilities to consider when looking for a cause of this problem. Typically work force problems are looked at as an issue of supply and demand (Dauphinee, 2005). Workforce numbers in Canada as a whole are monitored from several databases (Dauphinee, 2005). But when predicting future trends its hard to account for everything (Dauphinee, 2005). The population continues to increase (“New Incentive,” 2013). As of January 1, 2014 there are 1, 117, 503 people in Saskatchewan, which is an increase of 20,056 from the previous year (“New Incentive,” 2013). More people means more medical care. This can cause a strain on the current medical professionals (“New Incentive,” 2013).
There has been a shortage of physicians, lack of inpatient beds, problems with ambulatory services, as well as not having proper methods of dealing with patient overflow, all in the past 10 years (Cummings & francescutti, 2006, p.101). The area of concern that have been worse...
Pay-for-performance (P4P) is the compensation representation that compensates healthcare contributors for accomplishing pre-authorized objectives for the delivery of quality health care assistance by economic incentives. P4P is increasingly put into practice in the healthcare structure to support quality enhancements in healthcare systems. Thus, pay-for-performance can be seen as a means of attaching financial incentives to the main objectives of clinical care. However, reimbursement is a managed care payment by a third party to a beneficiary, hospital or other health care providers for services rendered to an insured or beneficiary. This paper discusses how reimbursement can be affected by the pay-for-performance approach and how system cost reductions impact the quality and efficiency of healthcare. In addition, it also addresses how pay-for-performance affects different healthcare providers and their customers. Finally, there will also be a discussion on the effects pay-for-performance will have on the future of healthcare.
Just as the economy travels through its cycles, from bear to bull and back again, so does the number of doctors in the country. In the 1960s, the government began an attempt to create more physicians using various methods. One such method was to reward medical schools for training a certain number of doctors (Bernstein 1013). This would give the medical schools an incentive to accept more students and to allow the students to fully graduate and go on to attend residency programs. Another such method was to give a monetary reward to residency programs for providing graduate medical education. This totaled approximately $7 billion, a sum large enough to “pay the tuition and living expenses of every medical student in the United States” with a large portion left over as well (Bernstein 1013). Because of these actions taken by the government, many more physicians were created, causing a physician surplus throughout the 1980s to the late 1990s, although this claim was based on ...
The current health care reimbursement system in the United State is not cost effective, and politicians, along with insurance companies, are searching for a new reimbursement model. A new health care arrangement, value based health care, seems to be gaining momentum with help from the biggest piece of health care legislation within the last decade; the Affordable Care Act is pushing the health care system to adopt this arrangement. However, the community of health care providers is attempting to slow the momentum of the value based health care, because they wish to maintain their autonomy under the current fee-for-service reimbursement system (FFS).
Before the ACA was implemented, there was already a shortage of primary care physicians. It is important to note that most Americans utilize or go to see a primary care physician. “An analysis of the projected supply and demand for physicians, conducted by the Health Resources and Services Administration in 2008, foretells of a total shortage across the entire workforce. Particularly evident is the deficit projected in non-primary care subspecialties, with a shortage of 35,000 surgeons and 27,000 medical specialists by 2020” (AAMC, 2014). According to the National ambulatory Medical Care Survey (2010) 55.5% of do...
It is no secret that the current healthcare reform is a contentious matter that promises to transform the way Americans view an already complex healthcare system. The newly insured population is expected to increase by an estimated 32 million while facing an expected shortage of up to 44,000 primary care physicians within the next 12 years (Doherty, 2010). Amidst these already overwhelming challenges, healthcare systems are becoming increasingly scrutinized to identify ways to improve cost containment and patient access (Curits & Netten, 2007). “Growing awareness of the importance of health promotion and disease prevention, the increased complexity of community-based care, and the need to use scarce human healthcare resources, especially family physicians, far more efficiently and effectively, have resulted in increased emphasis on primary healthcare renewal.” (Bailey, Jones & Way, 2006, p. 381).
In consequence, this will limit poor adults finding the proper treatment since many doctors do not accept Medicaid patients. High rates of uninsured populations were associated with lower primary care capacity (Ku et al., 2011). Thus, expanding insurance coverage can support more primary care practices in rural areas and can help equal the gap in primary care positions. The impact of not expanding affects APRN practice by limiting them to practice in areas where they are needed the most. This not only affects APRNs from practicing without a physician supervision but also limit those that need coverage for basic preventive measures to reduce non-paying visits to the emergency room. Ensuring access to care will be contingent upon the ability to attain progress from insurance coverage and primary
According to Texas Medical Association (2016), Texas has a severe shortage of primary care providers due to consistent growth of populations which ranks Texas in the second most populated states in America.Besides that, Texan has high obesity rates and comorbidity related to obesity are soaring high in this state recently (Texas Medical Association,2016). According to American Medical Association, Texas along with other states are facing severe primary care shortage with a projected number of 125,000 to 160,000 primary care providers due to increased number of baby boomers and newly insured clients (Conway,2010).On nationwide primary care shortage rising up 39% and especially in the state of Texas due to a steady population growth and the highest number of the uninsured population compared to other states(Conway,2010). According to Miller(2017), a recent report shows 35 counties in Texas do not have any kind of physician
In the article “Addressing staffing shortages in an era of reform,” Stanford point out that in a time when change is necessary because of mandated healthcare requirements, there is a shortage of nurses in the field of direct patient care, because they are offered jobs with better pay to oversee office positions. “Health system leaders recognize that these shortages threaten the quality of care they can provide to patients. As a result, competition for talent is becoming more heated in several parts of the country,” (Stanford, 2013). By nurses taking on jobs in other areas of the field, we are left to find people to replace them and when that happens, it creates a shortage on the front line of patient care.
Managed care reimbursement models have contributed to risk avoidance by negotiating discounts, discouraging use, and denying payments for charges that appear to be false. Health care reform has increased awareness to the quality of care providers give, thus shifting the responsibility onto the provider to provide quality care or else be forced to receive reduced reimbursements (Buff & Terrell,
In a 2012 collection of state workforce studies and reports, each state evidently needs more physicians. There are shortages of primary care physicians and specialists in every health professions: dental, mental health, pharmacy, and many others. Previously to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) passing, a convergence of difficulties had added to labor force problems. The ACA will inflict additional pressures on the health care labor force.
Several other causes have been attributed to the nursing shortage. An increase in the number of nurses is needed. Sadly, there is little increase in compensation for nurses. In addition to no growth in pay, the level of stress, responsibility, and demand nurses is increasing. Unfortunately, patients are the ones who suffer. When a hospital does not have the proper nursing staff to care for patients, it results in poor patient safety and patient outcomes (Buerhaus, Donelan, Ulrich, Norman, DesRoches, & Dittus, 2007). Nursing salaries compared to other professions has remained stagnant. For example, a registered
Knouse, S. B. (2005). The Future of Human Resource Management: 64 Leaders Explore the Critical HR Issues of Today and Tomorrow. 58(4), 1089-1092.