Dr. Bill Hennessey

AMERICA NEEDS 90,000 MORE FAMILY PHYSICIANS. MED STUDENTS HAVE DIFFERENT PRIORITIES

The National Center for Health Workforce Analysis predicts a shortage of about 87,000 family doctors by 2037, a problem exacerbated by an aging doctor workforce and increasing demand for elder care.  But each year, hundreds of medical residencies for primary care programs struggle to find students, and many who enter the field end up abandoning it.  Across the medical field, people look down on primary care work — which includes family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, OB-GYNs, and geriatrics — because it doesn't pay as well, is an administrative slog, and isn't considered as prestigious as other specialties. There's even a term for the bad-mouthing of primary care: specialty disrespect.  It's not surprising that so many people want to avoid primary care. When third-year med students rotate through underresourced primary care practices, they witness how stressed out doctors are. Even those who may have wanted to go into the field sometimes change their minds.

 

A national thought leader on the broken healthcare system. He's the Billing Integrity Officer with CareGuide, a company that fiercely negotiates outrageous medical bills on behalf of patients DR. BILL HENNESSEY