Employment Trends in the Health Care Sector
Phenominal growth in the ration of health care professionals to population since 1910--five fold
More than 2/3 of the health care people are not physicians
Massive growth due to hosptial growth and specialization which was encouraged by the reliable payments introduced with Medicaid and Medicare
The Expanding Supply of Physicians
A Physician Surplus or Shortage?
Massive growth (surplus) in number of physicians means that subsidization of medical education could be stopped--also foreigners moving in
Decrease in federal subsidies reduced attendance and made medical school costs soar
Foreign Medical Graduates were at 40% of new physicians in the early 1970s--decreased since then
Despite this many physicians, top residency positions continued
Some studies showed a derth of physicians int he 1970s
Changes in Medical Education
Too many doctors... but un-desierable residency positions go unfilled
Osteopathy
Small but important
Physican Assistance and Nurse Practioners