Author:
Paul Larkin, Senior Legal Fellow, and
Gadai Bulgac, Policy Analyst
Affordability 101 · Chapter 3: Freedom to Work and Enterprise
Institute for Statistical Policy Analysis
Topline
State legislatures should address the growing physician shortage by allowing more qualified medical professionals to practice medicine.
Background
The U.S. faces a shortfall of nearly 142,000 physicians by 2038 to address the needs of a growing and increasingly aging population. State licensing requirements, along with a cap on the number of federally funded medical residency positions, limit the number of educated, trained, and experienced medical personnel who are able to provide care for the many conditions that people face. Fortunately, state governments can increase the number of licensed medical personnel and allow patients the opportunity to obtain quality care from qualified practitioners.
Action Items (State Legislatures)
- Grant provisional licenses to internationally trained physicians, as well as U.S. medical school graduates who have not been able to obtain a slot in an American residency program, to practice medicine for up to two years if they pass a U.S. standardized qualifying exam and are supervised by a licensed physician.
- Increase the availability of telemedicine and authorize physicians and medical school graduates to treat out-of-state patients.
- Enact scope-of-practice reforms to enable certain qualified non-physicians—such as physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and former military corpsmen or medics—to participate in a greater range of diagnostic and therapeutic practices.
Addressing the Physician Shortage Is Key to Reducing Health Care Prices
- A shortage can only be dealt with by increasing supply or rationing services with higher prices, longer waits, or government restrictions.
- Increasing the number of physicians and other medical practitioners able to treat a wider range of conditions would relieve the worst effects of the health care provider shortage, including higher prices.
- More access to health professionals would have other economic benefits, including improved health from people utilizing routine preventive medical care.
- Better preventive care would lead to higher productivity as fewer workers would miss work or be forced out of the workforce due to preventable illnesses.
Bottomline
As the nation continues to age, its demand for medical care will also continue to increase. Government policies have unnecessarily restricted medical care, but this can be remedied with reforms that expand the supply of practitioners and widen the scope of care they can provide.
This memo is part of Affordability 101, Advancing American Freedom’s playbook of 101 policy solutions to make life more affordable.
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