The Pennsylvania Medical Society (PAMED) recently published its
2011 State of Medicine Report: Critical Action Steps to Ensure Access to Care for Pennsylvania Citizens, identifying strategies to increase physician supply at a time of increasing demand for physicians.
The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which became law in March 2010, is expected to extend health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of additional Pennsylvanians beginning in 2014 either through Medicaid or the health insurance exchange.
Pennsylvania has an urgent need to act now to begin preparing the state’s health delivery system to meet the significantly increased demand for services. Without an adequate network of physicians, newly insured patients will flood already crowded emergency rooms, or they will continue to not receive care, thus increasing health care costs.
The State of Medicine Report identifies three policy responses that the state must adopt to effectively address this looming crisis:
- Identify and implement strategies to increase physician supply, especially primary care
- Aggressively implement approaches and initiatives to ensure the financial viability of the Medicaid program
- Adopt strategies to increase Medicaid physician participation rates by providing incentives to physicians who participate
The report also provides options and recommendations to address each policy response. Its goal is to help guide the commonwealth as it prepares to address the enormous challenges ahead in physician manpower and access.
Read the
State of Medicine executive summary.