[adsljfl3]

As the other poster mentioned, med schools aren't actually the barrier to increasing the physician workforce. In order to be a practicing physician you need to go through residency training. However the number of residency spots has stayed fixed for the last 3 decades and is controlled by government funding.

If you want more doctors, lobby your government to increase residency training funding.

[anonunivgrad]

The number of residencies is set by a board which the AMA controls a majority of the seats on. They blame the lack of Medicare funding for additional residency spots, but that is such a preposterous excuse. American medicine is one of the most lucrative industries in the world, and American doctors some of the highest paid people in the world. They don't need the public to subsidize their training.

The AMA is a guild and the doctor shortage is their fault.

[koheripbal]

The doctor shortage is their intentional strategy. The fewer new doctors, the higher their pay.

They are a labor organization that's intentionally limiting supply.

[qwerty456127]

Or to lower the requirements. Doctors with no experience but a medical school are still much better than no doctors. I don't need a doctor with a fancy license, I need a doctor who has a scientifically adequate (and up-to-date) idea of how does a human body work and what has a good chance to be a reasonable way to cure my sickness.

[lotsofpulp]

I agree with this comment. US medicine has setup a long and tortuous road, which might result in extremely well qualified people (or might not), but other developed countries seem to do just fine without the hazing ritual the US required doctors to go through.

Why would you ever choose to be a doctor over an employee at a FAANG? It would be worse for your mental and physical health, and now the pay isn’t even much higher for doctors.

[jjoonathan]

The inflated requirements are a result of restricting the supply of seats, not a cause.

[chiph]

Depends on the specialty, I would think. Pediatricians, general practice, etc. can probably have lower standards than other specialties since they are where people typically enter the medical system for treatment. If they haven't seen a malady before, they refer the patient.

However, for cardiologists, anesthesiologists, neurosurgeons, etc. you probably want a higher education standard.

[khyryk]

I think what'll happen eventually is that the doctor situation will be sidestepped and the role doing stuff like looking at patients coming in to check on a generic cough or headache will go to physician assistants and nurse practitioners. To some extent I'm already seeing it happen.

[x86_64Ubuntu]

They're already kind of doing that with Nurse Practitioners. I used to have asthma, and for years I always saw a doctor. Towards the end, I rarely saw a doctor but saw a nurse practitioner instead. I strongly doubt the difference in pay was reflected in my bill.

[btgeekboy]

The theoretical person you’re describing sounds like a nurse practitioner.

[refurb]

The way Medicare funds residencies is also odd. What they do is add a pay bump to all reimbursement for a teaching hospital.

For example, for an appendectomy, a non-teaching hospital might be reimbursed $4,500. If you’re a teaching hospital you get an extra 1.3% (too lazy to look up exact number, but it’s quite small), so $4,559. And that’s for every procedure at the hospital, whether the resident was involved or not.

Seems like a more direct, “here is $80,000 for each residency spot” would make things a bit more transparent?

[vsskanth]

Maybe drop the requirement that only governments fund residency slots?

[wl]

Such a requirement doesn't exist. 77% of residency slots are funded by the federal government. But there are slots that aren't funded by the federal government. And this makes sense because residents make residency programs money.

[nathanvanfleet]

"Let private corporations do it." - America

[yangikan]

What do students who pass med school, but can't get a residency do? If the numbers are right, then there should a large pool of them.

[mc32]

So propublica isn’t being pro pubic and letting us know what the real issue is, but would rather present it as their own perceived issue?

They could say this is the quick fix but the long term solution is different.