Increase In Insured, Aging Patients Could Overwhelm Health Care Providers
By Alex Nixon, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
But it's not the crush on family physicians that some envisioned as thousands gained coverage for the first time when
"We are seeing some increased demand," said DeRubeis, CEO of
Indeed, the increase was not widespread. DeRubeis said that the growth in the number of patients seeking appointments this year was isolated to a Premier Medical office in
That squares with the income demographics of a majority of people who gained coverage under the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare. About three-quarters of people who bought coverage through Obamacare's online marketplace were low-wage workers who qualified for federal subsidies.
Elsewhere in the
Managing concerns
The prospect of surging demand down the road, combined with an aging population of baby boomers who will require increased medical care, is causing concern about how the state's 32,000 physicians would manage.
"We can see the demographics and can see where things are going. There's concern out there," said
More than 300,000 people in
Poor and uninsured Pennsylvanians could flood the health care system with 824,000 additional doctor visits a year if the state were to expand
Medical professionals and their advocates worry that a flood of patients, especially those seeking help from primary care physicians, could cause long waits and difficulty getting appointments. That could exacerbate a tenuous situation in some areas.
Delayed impact?
Prior to the rollout of Obama's health care law this year, the federal government identified shortages of doctors in many
Medical services in those neighborhoods are provided through federal health centers operated by
But
"We have not seen that," he said, noting that the centers treated about 25,000 patients last year and are on pace to treat the same number this year.
Dr.
"I don't know that we're seeing the trickle down of it all yet," he said.
Yet, whether or not Obama's heath law puts pressure on physicians, demographic changes will eventually cause problems, experts say.
Retirement boom
An estimated 10,000 baby boomers are hitting retirement age each day, causing greater demand for medical services because the elderly use more health care than younger people.
Compounding the problem: Many of those retiring are health care providers.
A state
"There are good things that we could do to help meet some of that demand," she said.
Others are pushing for the federal government to fund more physician residency positions, which they argue would open a bottleneck in the training of doctors.
U.S. Sen.
Casey cited projections from the
"If we just sit on our hands, 2020 will be here before we blink and we won't have a strategy in place to manage the problem," he said.
Problem 'pockets'
A study published in the Annals of Family Medicine in 2012 predicted a shortage of 52,000 primary care physicians nationwide by 2025, caused mainly by the aging American population.
But others believe the problem is not one of under-supply, but an issue of distribution of physicians.
"I think the shortages are occurring or are going to occur in specific pockets" of the state, said
"Really, I think part of the discussion has to be about the maldistribution of physicians across the state," Olmstead said. "There's over-supply in urban areas like
"There's a lot of need to deliver primary care in places that aren't as attractive" as large cities, he said.
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