Assignment: The Future of Healthcare

The Future of Healthcare
The physician shortage is a complex healthcare problem that should be addressed to prevent the health crisis from reaching an unmanageable level. Wang (2024) provides a worrying projection that the U.S. healthcare system will be short of not less than 30,000 physicians by 2034. Aging physicians, reduced performance due to burnout and other issues, and high education costs are some leading causes. With the use of International Medical School Graduates (IMGs) being questionable, practical approaches should be adopted to fill the current gap.

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A practical approach is filling the gap by a major substitution of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and other medical professionals with advanced education. Studies show that these professionals provide care quality that matches what physicians provide in regular practice. For instance, van Den Brink et al. (2021) found that employing physician assistants/associates for traditional physicians is cost-effective, and the care quality they deliver compares to or exceeds that of physicians. Consequently, there will be no gaps in performance if physicians are substituted with physician assistants. The care delivered by nurse practitioners also matches that of their physician colleagues, with numerous research studies finding no statistically significant difference between the delivered outcomes (American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 2024; Carranza et al., 2020). Therefore, these professionals should fill the gap as the United States continues exploring other alternatives and the feasibility of IMGs in the ever-expanding system.
As the U.S. healthcare system continues advancing and responding to the physician shortage crisis, it is crucial to adopt measures that will ensure the substitutes work effectively. As Poghosyan et al. (2020) recommended, healthcare organizations should assist nurse practitioners with adequate patient care resources, personnel support, and time for self-care. The other crucial intervention is abolishing state-based practice barriers to enable nurse practitioners to work to the full extent of their training and education. These multidimensional measures will ensure a constant supply of patient care and a workforce able to cope with the impact of physician shortage.
References
American Association of Nurse Practitioners. (2024). Quality of nurse practitioner service. https://www.aanp.org/advocacy/advocacy-resource/position-statements/quality-of-nurse-practitioner-practice#:~:text=Furthermore%2C%20NP%2Ddelivered%20care%20is,significant%20difference%20across%20outcome%20measures.
Carranza, A. N., Munoz, P. J., & Nash, A. J. (2020). Comparing quality of care in medical specialties between nurse practitioners and physicians. Journal of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, 33(3), 184–193. https://doi.org/10.1097/JXX.0000000000000394
Poghosyan, L., Ghaffari, A., Liu, J., & McHugh, M. D. (2020). Organizational support for nurse practitioners in primary care and workforce outcomes. Nursing Research, 69(4), 280–288. https://doi.org/10.1097/NNR.0000000000000425
van Den Brink, G. T. W. J., Hooker, R. S., Van Vught, A. J., Vermeulen, H., & Laurant, M. G. H. (2021). The cost-effectiveness of physician assistants/associates: a systematic review of international evidence. PLoS One, 16(11), e0259183. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259183
Wang, K. (2024). The hidden health crisis: America’s physician shortage is slowly worsening. Columbia Political Review. https://www.cpreview.org/articles/2024/2/the-hidden-health-crisis-americas-physician-shortage-is-slowly-worsening#:~:text=By%202034%2C%20experts%20anticipate%20that,aging%20physicians%20and%20patient%20populations.

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The wisdom of depending on International Medical School Graduates (IMGs) to fill gaps in physician supply, while US medical schools hold class size constant, is questionable. In addition, the aging of the physician workforce, the decreasing hours worked by both physicians in practice and physicians in residency, and a 20 percent reduction in the effort of the increasing proportion of minority physicians, will result in a significant decrease in the “effective” supply of physicians. Should the gap be filled by a major substitution of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, chiropractors, acupuncturists, and others, or are there alternatives?