May Issue 2018
Inside This Issue
Like Many Specialties, Vascular Surgery is Facing a Physician Shortage By Phillip Miller Merritt Hawkins
Steve Roach, MD, To Head Pediatric Neuroscience Care Program For Central Texas Children See pg.8
INDEX Financial Forecast............. pg.3 Legal Matters........................ pg.4 Mental Health...................... pg.5 Oncology Research......... pg.6 Healthy Heart....................... pg.7
Baylor Scott & White Medical Center Buda Celebrates Groundbreaking See pg. 10
W
hen the topic of physician shortages arises, much of the attention goes the dearth of primary care doctors – family physicians, general internists and pediatricians. There is a good reason for this. Demand for these types of doctors is extremely high while the supply is limited. In 2017, family medicine was Merritt Hawkins most requested type of search assignment for the 11th year in a row, while internal medicine has been either second or third for 10 consecutive years. According to Merritt Hawkins’ 2017 Survey of Final-Year Medical Resident, 55% of primary care doctors receive 100 or more recruiting offers during their training, underscoring the acute demand for these types of physicians. But it is a mistake to believe shortages are confined to primary care. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) projects there will be up to 104,900 too few doctors by 2030, including 43,100 too few primary care doctors but also including 61,800 too few specialists. Demand for specialists will be driven by patient demographics, as 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day, most of whom will need specialists to care for ailing organs, bones, nervous systems, and psyches. Advances in medical technology and consumer preference for the most cutting edge care also will fuel demand for specialists. Vascular surgery is just one of many specialties facing physician shortages that currently are flying under the
radar. There are only several thousand of these specialists in the United States who take care of the circulatory system, while there are some 100 million people
many other medical specialties. Merritt Hawkins conducts more searches for family physicians than for any other type of doctor, but that is in part a function of the fact that family physicians are comparatively numerous. Calculated by the number of searches Merritt Hawkins conducts relative to the total number of physicians in a given specialty, it could be argued that pulmonologists are in even greater demand than family physicians (see Merritt Hawkins’ 2017 Review of Physician Recruiting Incentives). Those who have tried to make an appointment with a specialist lately can corroborate this trend. According to Merritt Hawkins 2017 Survey of Physician Appointment Wait Times, the average time to schedule a new patient appointment with a dermatologist is 32 days, up from 29 days in 2014. In Philadelphia, the average wait time to see a derm is 78 days. Breakthroughs in diagnostic technology and the increased use of physician assistants and nurse practitioners can help address shortages in primary care, but are less likely
T he A s s o c i at io n of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) projects there will be up to 104,900 too few doctors by 2030, including 43,100 too few primary care doctors but also including 61,800 too few specialists. in the U.S. who are at risk for vascular disease, according to the Society for Vascular Surgery. More specialists will be needed to address vascular conditions from strokes to varicose veins, but the supply of vascular surgeons remains limited. An article in the Journal of Vascular Surgery indicates there will be an 11.6% deficit of vascular surgeons by 2030. The same point could be made for
see Vascular Surgery... page 14
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