Health and Disability

For the past four years, we have tracked primary care workforce numbers comparing the annual primary care residency match data with the primary care nurse practitioner (NP) graduation rates. While NP data continue to surge, the physician numbers, both allopathic and osteopathic, continue to be relatively disappointing, with only a minor increase.

With 20 million people now enrolled for health care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the need for primary care providers is swelling. The minimal increase in medical school graduates entering primary care does not address the prediction by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis of shortages as high as 20,400 physicians by 2020.

Large increases in NP graduates each year are the good news in the midst of the inadequate numbers of physicians entering primary care. The challenge remains, though, to maximize the practice potential of physicians and NPs so that they both are practicing to the fullest extent of their education and training. Only then will the nation reap the full benefit of expanded access to quality primary care services and a reduction in unnecessary costs to the health care system.