Statewide Doctor Shortage Looms

As our healthcare system is “transformed,” fixing greater focus on primary care, care coordination, and population health, residents across the state need more primary care providers, according to an eye-opening report from the Healthcare Association of New York State (HANYS). Doctor Shortage Imperils Primary Care Expansion confirms that New York’s physician shortage continues and is expected to worsen as reform efforts—such as the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP) program—rely on increased primary care. The report, which summarizes the results of HANYS’ annual Physician Advocacy Survey, found 20% of the 942 doctors needed are primary care physicians.

“At a time when healthcare providers are working to keep their communities healthier and out of the emergency room, primary care must be accessible in all corners of New York State,” said HANYS President Dennis Whalen. “From expanding successful programs such as Doctors Across New York to optimizing telehealth services, the state must explore ways to meet the current and future needs for primary care.”

Seventy-seven percent of respondents indicated that their primary care capacity is not sufficient to meet current needs, with 75% concerned about the ability to meet future demand. The survey also found 86% of hospitals found primary care physicians very difficult to recruit. Those surveyed provide primary care at a total of 542 clinics.

HANYS has advocated for additional slots for the successful Doctors Across New York program, the continuation of Primary Care Services Corps, and for funding through DSRIP to help providers recruit physicians and other healthcare professionals to communities in need.

HANYS’ 2014 Physician Advocacy Survey was developed in collaboration with Iroquois Healthcare Alliance, Suburban Hospital Alliance of New York State, Rochester Regional Healthcare Association, and Western New York Healthcare Association. A total of 94 member hospitals outside New York City participated in the survey. With a large number of respondents located in rural underserved areas in northeastern, central, Rochester, and western New York, the report includes a separate section for upstate findings. Reports like these urge lawmakers implicitly to act to gain medical students and to recruit them into critical sectors. That means incentives.