on the shortage of physician residencies

As my fellow college seniors receive responses to their medical school application and "match day," the day medical students hear back about residency placements, approaches, I think it's especially crucial to discuss a factor of a poignant concern of American healthcare today: the physician shortage.

During "match day" last year, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) found that hundreds of medical students did not get placed into residency positions due to a cap on the amount of federal funding available for residency programs. Though medical schools have been increasing their admissions to account for the United States physician shortage, and more students are entering DO programs or are applying for American residency from accredited international programs, Congress has not raised the cap on the amount of federal funding provided for the required residency training programs for the past 17 years. As a result, there are fewer residency positions than medical school students. And, since residency is a requirement of becoming a practicing physician, this shortage of available spots means getting into med school and graduating from med school, after which you are officially earn the title of Dr., may not be enough to actually be a practicing physician in the United States.

Source: https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/keyissues/physician_workforce/

While anyone who knows anything about the MCAT or USMLE can lament for those med students who fail to place, the public policy concern is the fact that a stagnant number of available residency spots over the past two decades is contributing to an overall shortage of American physicians relative to the growing American population. According to the AAMC, one-third of the nations doctors are set to retire in the next decade, leaving us with a shortage of 90,000 physicians, both in primary care and specialities, by 2020¹ and a shortage of 130,600 by 2025¹.

The main issue currently is not that medical schools are sending too many rejection letters (sorry, friends) nor that there is a dearth of applicants. It is that Congress is not providing adequate funding for proportional expansion of residency programs.

And, sure enough, bills have been proposed to Congress that request a increase in the number of residencies (my search of Congress.gov found over 17,000 bills relevant to "Resident Physician Shortage" since 1999, though I didn't look through them all to confirm their relevance).

As of now 26,000 residency positions are available, which will not be enough to cover the students graduating from American medical schools and entering their first year of residency in 2016³  unless Congress raises its cap on the number of residency positions and increases funding accordingly. And does so quickly.

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1. Kirsch, Darrell G., M.D. "AAMC Remains Concerned About Shortage of Residency Positions Despite Successful Match Day." AAMC Remains Concerned About Shortage of Residency Positions Despite Successful Match Day. American Association of Medical Colleges, 21 Mar. 2014. Web. 11 Jan. 2015.
2. Grover, Atul, M.D., Ph.D. "GME Funding and Physician Workforce." GME Funding and Physician Workforce . Association of American Medical Colleges, n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2015.
3. Ibid.