Published: Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Health centers hit by doctor shortage
Officials say the shortage is acutely felt in underserved communities.
The Bush administration has increased spending on community health centers by hundreds of millions of dollars since 2001, helping to open or expand more than 500 of the facilities and extending basic medical services to 4.5 million people.
But the promise of better health care for millions of Americans in underserved communities is being undermined by a chronic shortage of doctors — one that some officials of the health centers say the administration has done too little to address.
Although the number of physicians employed by the centers has increased by 41 percent, to 7,320, under the federally funded expansion, many organizations have found it nearly impossible to land the primary-care doctors they need to match the growing caseload.
"At the same time you are building all these new buildings, and starting these organizations, you are not putting people in them," said Joe Liszak, chief executive of Community Health Services of Fremont, Ohio, a rural health center whose seven doctors cared for 10,000 patients last year. "It's like building a grocery store without having groceries."
In Ohio, the number of health centers rose from 107 to 122 between 2002 and 2005 — a 14 percent increase, according to the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers. In the same period, the number of patients seen went up by 26 percent, to 325,000. But the number of physicians rose only 9 percent, from 163 to 177.
"It doesn't do us any good to open up new community health centers if we can't staff them," said Shawn Frick, the association's executive director. "We are getting to a point of desperation. ... There is not a single state in the country that is not having a physician problem right now."
Increased funding
Administration officials say they are doing their part, increasing health center funding by $645 million (about 48 percent) since the beginning of the 2002 fiscal year. Much of the money goes to hire and pay medical professionals, said James Macrae, associate administrator for primary health care in the Health Resources and Services Administration.
"We have put a significant amount of money ... to really support bringing physicians, nurse practitioners and certified midwives into underserved communities," said Macrae, whose agency is part of the Department of Health and Human Services. "At the same time, we also recognize that there is a need for getting more people interested in providing care to the underserved."
Health center officials are grateful for the money and the recognition of their role. But they say the shortage of primary-care physicians — a national problem as many new doctors select more lucrative specialties — is felt especially acutely in their communities.
More Stories from Sat, Jun 23, 2007
- Poll: Parents, educators want fix to No Child Act
- Atlantis returns
- Antioch reunion festivities include talk of closing
- Ohio girl saved by marrow donation
- Woman dies in accident at Ohio glass factory
- Six Flags, Cedar Fair shut down more rides after teen's...
- TIME LINE
- Abandoned baby is not child of missing woman
