Help Wanted: massive shortage of MDs by 2020
The Association of American Medical Colleges [AAMC] have indicated that America will face massive shortage of MD’s by 2020
This is a serious problem for the industry and one which will eventually impact healthcare marketing! So why don’t we become more involved in solving the issue before it is too late!
Noone knows how to market better than we do, right?
We have spent our time focusing on patients – yes, they are the revenue generators after all! But we need to change our focus and learn how to market to the physicians. We need to attract new doctors to our hospitals to retain our patient base and clinical services.
Reasons for concern ::
[1] First-year MD enrollment has declined since 1980
[2] The current physician workforce is aging
250,000 Active Physicians Are Over 55
[3] Number of elderly patients will double by 2030
[4] Doctor visits are sharply higher for those over 65
[5] The United States has a low physician-to-population ratio
[even compared to Ireland!]
How do we do it?
We need to market our clinical departments to prospective faculty recruits, trainees, etc. We need to do a better job of selling, not only our services but the rewarding personal carer stories. We need to forget the mantra of “market the service – not the doctor”. We need to highlight our rockstars, our researchers, our compassionate and devoted nursing staff. We need to sell healthcare to the future healthcare providers. We have an important role to play in the continuity of care and have a great product to sell.
Lets get to work … and make our contribution to the pending crisis!
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The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is a not-for-profit association representing all 134 accredited U.S. and 17 accredited Canadian medical schools; nearly 400 major teaching hospitals and health systems, including 62 Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers; and nearly 90 academic and scientific societies. Through these institutions and organizations, the AAMC represents 128,000 faculty members, 75,000 medical students, and 110,000 resident physicians. Additional information about the AAMC and U.S. medical schools and teaching hospitals is available at www.aamc.org/newsroom.
Comments
An important topic, but difficult to resolve.
I think part of the problem is the high cost of medical school tuition and lower compensation levels, Also, more doctors are becoming employees, rather than being in private practice. Furthermore, healthcare reform will not serve to attract individuals to the profession since in many cases physicians will receive less reimbursement than they receive now for the same procedures. Allied Health Professions (PA, NPs) will be seeing the bulk of the patients.
The title of this discussion is “Help Wanted: more US doctors needed. How healthcare marketers can solve this crisis.” There is a lack of reality associated with this title. Marketers will not solve the shortage.
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