One More Reason Why We Are Going to Have Physician Shortage
Here’s something by Jeff Goldsmith that I missed a few weeks ago:
We will be replacing a generation of workaholic, 70-hour-a-week baby boom physicians with Gen Y physicians with a revealed preference for 35-hour work weeks. During this same period, we’ll be adding 1.5-1.7 million net new Medicare beneficiaries a year and enfranchising perhaps 25 million newly insured folks through health reform. “Train wreck” is the right descriptor of the emerging primary care supply situation.
What about doubling physicians’ patient panels to more than 5,000?
I’ve visited real-world group practices organized this way. They reminded me of nothing so much as “I Love Lucy’s” famous chocolate factory assembly line. It was exhausting simply watching the physicians sprint through their days. You wanted to install oxygen carrels for them to catch their breath. Gen Y docs aren’t going to practice 28-slot days, with intensive “break times” to answer their emails and make phone calls. Neither are Gen Y nurse practitioners.
Doctor shortages are a problem that I do not feel law makers have completely found a solution to. In fact, I would wager that the regulations and laws they are enacting, are counter-productive to ensuring there are enough healthcare professionals.
Adam Smith said Labor…is the real measure of the exchangeable value of all commodities.
Gen Y physicians with a revealed preference for 35-hour work weeks
– I’d be curious to see where this stat came from.
“Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor”
1 Corinthians 3:8
Perhaps Gen Y doctors are just being good Christians by refusing to be overworked.
Explain how the US has lower physician to population ratios than all the much hated European and Scandinavian countries?
This is some of the worst piece of junk studies I’ve seen in a while. I am surprised this is being posted. No real evidence and pure biased accounts is all it is.
“We will be replacing a generation of workaholic, 70-hour-a-week baby boom physicians with Gen Y physicians with a revealed preference for 35-hour work weeks.”
Say what? This is almost laughable. I do not see any evidence of this whatsoever.
I too have to disagree with Mr. Goldsmith.
“[L]ess than 15 percent of physicians age 40 or younger said they work 40 hours or fewer a week,
compared to 21.8 percent of physicians 41 or older. This contradicts a commonly held perception that
younger physicians are more likely to work part-time schedules than are older physicians.”
Source: Page 44 http://www.physiciansfoundation.org/uploads/default/Physicians_Foundation_2012_Biennial_Survey.pdf
I too have to disagree with Mr. Goldsmith.
“[L]ess than 15 percent of physicians age 40 or younger said they work 40 hours or fewer a week, compared to 21.8 percent of physicians 41 or older. This contradicts a commonly held perception that younger physicians are more likely to work part-time schedules than are older physicians.”
Source: Page 44 http://www.physiciansfoundation.org/uploads/default/Physicians_Foundation_2012_Biennial_Survey.pdf
I think we have bigger problems in our health care system than physician shortages to be honest. But that’s just my opinion based on what I see, feel free to disagree or present evidence on the contrary.
The physicians foundation survey is pretty interesting. http://www.physiciansfoundation.org/uploads/default/Physicians_Foundation_2012_Biennial_Survey.pdf
If you look at the respondents, its sort of like the tea party for doctors: old white male small town doctors.
52% of all doctors are below age 50, 34% of the survey respondents are below 50. 30% of the respondents are over age 60 but only 20% of all physicians are over age 60.
73% of the respondents were male but only 67% of all physicians are male.
85% of the respondents were white but only 55% of all physicians are white.
Finally about 50% of them practice in cities with populations under 250,000 but 17% of all physicians practice in cities with populations under 250,000