The Role of Public Policy in Physician Shortages

The Role of Public Policy in Physician Shortages

Supply and demand encompass the healthcare workforce, just like any other service provider. However, despite the demand for services in the healthcare industry, the supply of healthcare professionals remains low. This has created a notable shortage. Notably, the recent COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the already existing issue of healthcare professional shortages, especially in nursing and specialized physicians (Xu et al., 2020). A majority of the factors leading to the current physician shortages include a lack of physician’s professional and personal support, poor work infrastructure, localities such as in rural regions and population density, geography, migration to other nations, and a growing aged population (Danish et al., 2019).

Public policy helps address physician shortages by guiding and instructing the development and implementation of various targeted interventions, such as the number of medical schools to be established and their locations, funding for medical education, and support for physicians in practices, including increasing compensation and benefits (Danish et al., 2019). For instance, public policy’s role in discussing and addressing physician shortages is to provide directives to increase the levels of funding in the healthcare sector. This includes funding and accessibility of funding for medical courses and other professional training programs for physicians. Public policy can also push for the establishment of physician teaching and training institutions in rural regions to improve the supply of physicians to the rural regions, which are more affected by the shortage (Danish et al., 2019). Public policy also includes settling education loan debts and improved work incentives for physicians who agree to work in rural and other regions affected by physician shortages. Overall, appropriate public policy in health is critical in discussions focused on the development of long-term solutions to address physician shortages.

References

Danish, A., Blais, R., & Champagne, F. (2019). Strategic analysis of interventions to reduce physician shortages in rural regions. Rural and Remote Health, 19(4). https://doi.org/10.22605/RRH5466

Xu, H., Intrator, O., & Bowblis, J. R. (2020). Shortages of Staff in Nursing Homes During the COVID-19 Pandemic: What are the Driving Factors? Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 21(10), 1371–1377. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JAMDA.2020.08.002

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The Role of Public Policy in Physician Shortages

Supply and demand encompass the healthcare workforce, just as they do any other service providers. Describe the role that public policy plays when discussing physician shortages.