Shortage of healthcare professionals in America

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Shortage of healthcare professionals in America

Since the turn of the millennium, the United States has been experiencing a shortage of doctors, with some predicting that there will be a shortage of about 150,000 physicians and over half a million nurses by 2025 (Zywiak, 2013). Some of the reasons for shortage of healthcare professionals include the Affordable Care Act implemented in 2010. That there is better insurance coverage and for more people means more people seek preventative care relative to the number of healthcare workers.  
Yet there are many healthcare professionals reaching retirement age. And so are patients, with many of them becoming eligible for Medicare (Wilson, 2012). Naturally, the older people become, the more they need healthcare. So there are increasingly more patients per doctor nationally.

Healthcare graduates are increasingly finding it hard to get residency spots. Medicare funds many residency spots putting a cap of 100,000 residencies for the hospitals since 1997(Wilson, 2012). This is despite the policy change of Affordable Care Act and Medicare which have led to the need for more physicians.

Ways that the shortage is being addressed is by redistribution of unused residency spots. Each hospital gets a cap, yet some hospitals do not use their quota, and these are being reallocated to hospitals that need them most. More residency caps are also been added overall (Zywiak, 2013).

The National Health Services Corps are receiving more funding and hence will be more involved in healthcare provision.

With the Affordable Care Act, there is a focus on prevention rather than cure. Nurses can be utilized to deal with this wellness approach considering the holistic, community-based approach used in nursing schools today (Wilson, 2012).
By the federal and state governments, healthcare stakeholder associations and health organization’s having the right policies, shortage of healthcare professionals can be effectively redressed.


References

Wilson, J. (2012). Your health care is covered, but who's going to treat you? http://edition.cnn.com/2012/06/29/health/doctor-shortage-affordable-care-act/. Accessed on July 26, 2016.

Zywiak, W. (2013). US healthcare workforce shortages. https://assets1.csc.com/health_services/downloads/CSC_US_Healthcare_Workforce_Shortages_Caregivers.pdf. Accessed on July 26, 2016.

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