The demand for physician services in a changing health care system: a synthesis

Four Needles in a Haystack: A Systematic Review Assessing Quality of Health Care in Specialty Practice by Practice Type

Specialists, who represent 60% of physicians in the United States, are consolidating into large group practices, but the degree to which group practice type facilitates the delivery of high quality of care in specialty settings is unknown. We conducted a systematic literature review to identify the impact of group practice type on the quality of care among specialty providers. The search resulted in 913 articles, of which only 4 met inclusion criteria. Studies were of moderate methodological quality. From the limited evidence available, we hypothesize that solo specialists deliver care that is inferior to their peers in group practice, whether measured by patient satisfaction ratings or adherence to guideline-based care. However, solo specialists and multidisciplinary group specialists may be more likely to provide some specialized services compared with their single-specialty group peers. Insufficient research compares quality of care among different practice types in specialty care. Substantial opportunity exists to test the degree to which organizational factors, whether size of practice or the mix of providers within the practice, influence quality of care in specialty settings.

The impact of primary care: a focused review

Primary care serves as the cornerstone in a strong healthcare system. However, it has long been overlooked in the United States (USA), and an imbalance between specialty and primary care exists. The objective of this focused review paper is to identify research evidence on the value of primary care both in the USA and internationally, focusing on the importance of effective primary care services in delivering quality healthcare, improving health outcomes, and reducing disparities. Literature searches were performed in PubMed as well as "snowballing" based on the bibliographies of the retrieved articles. The areas reviewed included primary care definitions, primary care measurement, primary care practice, primary care and health, primary care and quality, primary care and cost, primary care and equity, primary care and health centers, and primary care and healthcare reform. In both developed and developing countries, primary care has been demonstrated to be associated with enhanced access to healthcare services, better health outcomes, and a decrease in hospitalization and use of emergency department visits. Primary care can also help counteract the negative impact of poor economic conditions on health.

Prepaid group practice staffing and U.S. physician supply: lessons for workforce policy

This paper describes staffing at eight large prepaid group practices (PGPs) serving more than eight million enrollees at Kaiser Permanente and two other health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Even after characteristics of the patient populations and outside referrals are accounted for, these PGPs have a physician-to-population ratio that is 22-37 percent below the national rate. Two decades of historical data at Kaiser Permanente indicate that its rate of specialist growth was far higher than that of primary care. The study suggests that efficient systems of care can readily meet the demands of patient populations with workforce staffing ratios below current U.S. levels.

The dermatology workforce shortage

BACKGROUND

While many dermatology workforce projections over the past two decades forecasted an impending oversupply, more recent reports have begun to suggest a shortage of dermatologic services.

METHODS

Anonymous surveys administered to practicing dermatologists and to recent training graduates were examined for surrogate indicators of the supply and demand for dermatologic services.

RESULTS

The mean wait time for new patient appointments with dermatologists was 36 calendar days, but ranged widely based on location (means ranged from 9-120 days by state). About half (49%) of practicing dermatologists feel that they need more dermatologists in their communities, while only 20% describe the local supply as too high. The reported need for medical and general dermatologists is far more acute than for dermatologic subspecialists. Many practices (33%) are looking for new associates, and not surprisingly, most new graduates entering the workforce over the past 4 years (86-93%) do not describe any difficulty finding desirable positions. Fewer than 10% of recent graduates are dissatisfied with their current jobs.

CONCLUSION

Based on survey data examining wait times, physician perception, use of physician extenders, searches for new employees, and experience of recent graduates entering the workforce, it appears there is an inadequate supply of dermatologists to meet the demand for services.

Rethinking Medicare reform

Many health policy analysts argue that demographic pressures, the inflationary nature of fee-for-service payment, and the uncontrollable nature of defined-benefit insurance make Medicare unsustainable in its current form. They assert that Medicare can remain fiscally viable in the next century only by embracing a voucher system and exposing beneficiaries to the economic consequences of their medical care decisions. We argue here, however, that Medicare need not rely on vouchers or on placing financial incentives on individual beneficiaries to control costs. Instead, we contend that Medicare can control expenditures the way most other industrial democracies do: through budgetary caps and centralized regulation of provider payments.

The health work force, generalism, and the social contract

Since 1990, society has been evolving through a period of significant transformation. In response to an increasingly information-rich and knowledge-based environment, the work force for most of society is becoming more specialized. Medicine is one of the few areas developing a work force which emphasizes generalism. For our current needs, the transitional work force has overproduced physicians. Because the overproduction has been uneven by specialty, it is deceptive to evaluate growth collectively rather than by individual subspecialty. Future shifts in age and types of illness combined with enhanced technology will transform the public's expectations of the American health care system. The type and number of physicians that will be needed in the future will be substantially different than in the past, so current patterns in physician education may not address the population's future demands.

Clinical staffing in staff- and group-model HMOs

Analysts frequently have used health maintenance organization (HMO) staffing patterns as a yardstick for estimating national clinical workforce requirements. Based on a nationwide survey of fifty-four staff- and group-model HMOs, the largest sample yet used in an analysis of this type, this DataWatch examines physician-to-member ratios, the use of nonphysician providers, and HMOs' methods of estimating clinical staffing needs. Overall physician staffing ratios and primary care physician staffing ratios closely resemble those reported in previous studies, but they exhibit wide variability and are strongly correlated with HMO size. Although caution should be exercised when using HMO staffing ratios in projections of physician workforce requirements, the ratios described here support projections of a specialty physician surplus.