Idaho faces serious family doctor shortage

CHICAGO – A doctors group expects a serious shortfall of family doctors in Idaho and at least four other states by 2020.

Population growth and rising numbers of elderly people in Nevada, Arizona, Florida, Texas and Idaho will make the need in those states most critical, said Dr. Perry Pugno of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

“As Americans age, they need more health care interventions and primary care is the most cost-effective way to help them maintain their health,” Pugno said.

The number of U.S. medical graduates going into family medicine has been falling – by more than 50 percent from 1997 to 2005 – with many young doctors preferring specialties that pay more and offer more control over work hours.

The group scheduled a rally in Washington, D.C., today to coincide with the release of its work force report, which estimates the number of family doctors must grow by 39 percent during the next 14 years to keep up with the nation’s needs. All states will need more family doctors by 2020, the report says, with Nevada topping the list. Idaho needs a 51 percent increase in the number of family doctors over the next 15 years, according to the report. This year the state has an estimated 408 family doctors, the report says, and needs 615 by 2020.

The doctors group wants Congress to increase Medicare payments to family doctors to help ease the shortage, Pugno said. The group also urges voters to question candidates about health care, an issue as important to voters polled by the group as the war in Iraq and terrorism, Pugno said.

“Candidates for public office owe it to the people of Idaho to tell us how they would fix our health care system before it is too late, and voters owe it to themselves to question the candidates,” Dr. Suzanne Allen, a Boise family physician, said in a prepared statement. Allen was among 22 Idaho residents who were headed to the rally.

There are about 100,000 licensed family doctors in the United States, a number that has been growing only slightly, said Dr. Larry Fields, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.