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University at Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Medical school is a daunting financial proposition for anyone, but for those from underrepresented groups it can be a deal-breaker.

That financial barrier is one of the major factors leading to the lack of physicians from underrepresented groups. Even in a diverse state like New York, where African-Americans and Hispanics/Latinos comprise more than 30 percent of the population, they make up only 12 percent of the physician workforce, according to data from the State University of New York Albany Center for Health Workforce Studies.

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Health Affairs

In many ways, health-sector jobs helped the US economy recover from the financial crisis of 2007–08: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), between 2006 and 2016, 2.8 million jobs were added to the health sector at a rate of growth almost seven times faster than the rest of the economy. Over the decade, jobs in health care settings grew more the 20 percent, while jobs in the remainder of the economy only grew 3 percent. Although the BLS projects that the rate of growth in jobs in health care settings will decrease slightly in the decade from 2016 to 2026, the projected growth of jobs in health care settings (18 percent) will continue to be far more rapid than in the remainder of the economy, which is projected to grow at a rate of 6 percent. Thus, health care jobs are still projected to grow at three times the rate of the rest of the economy during the next decade.

Every two years the BLS publishes 10-year occupational and industry projections for employment in the US. The data cover hundreds of occupations and settings. The BLS also provides historical data on employment trends over the prior decade. To make the relevant data on health occupations and settings more accessible to the health community, the Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) provides a report summarizing and analyzing the data for the health sector and health occupations. The CHWS report on the 2016–26 projections was recently released and has a wealth of interesting data. This posting provides some of the highlights of the recent BLS data from the CHWS report.

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BJNN

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) is backing a bill that would add 15,000 more Medicare-supported residency-training slots for doctors…

…Schumer’s release also cited a “recent major report” for the Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWSNY) found that providers are “unevenly distributed” across New York.

CHWSNY, also based in Rensselaer, is part of the University at Albany’s School of Public Health.

The report found that Central New York has one of the “lowest rates” of family and general-practice physicians in the state, with only one primary-care doctor for every 1,330 people, Schumer’s office said.

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ASPPH

According to a new report by the Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) at the University at Albany School of Public Health, health care employment grew by nearly 21 percent between 2006 and 2016, compared to only 3 percent job growth in all other employment sectors…

“This study finds that health care employment continues to be an important economic driver in the U.S.,” noted Dr. Robert Martiniano, CHWS Senior Program Manager. “The analysis also reflects changes in the health care delivery system, with more job growth in ambulatory and home care settings compared to hospitals.”…

…Dr. Jean Moore, CHWS director, states, “This report describes trends in health care employment that can help health care providers, educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders better understand current and future demand for health care workers.”  She also asserts that, “Changes underway in health care delivery and financing could impact future demand for health workers. Consequently, it is important to routinely monitor health care employment trends and projections.”

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Times Telegram

Sen. Charles Schumer wants to take action to forestall a growing shortage of physicians.

He visited Oneida Healthcare on Friday to call for passage of the Physician Shortage Act of 2018, which would create 15,000 more Medicare-supported training slots for medical residents. The number of doctors trained in this country is limited by the number of available residencies…

…Jean Moore, director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies at the University at Albany, took a more nuanced view of the bill. To some extent, physician shortages are in the eye of the beholder, she said.

“That’s a trick question,” she said. “There’s a lot of different answers depending on your perspective on that. We need to find ways to use the people that we have more efficiently and to recognize that a lot of times when we talk shortage, it’s really maldistribution.”

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Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health

Researchers at the University at Albany’s Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWS) analyzed starting salary trends for physicians who completed graduate medical education (GME) training in New York over the past 15 years. Using data drawn from its annual Resident Exit Survey, researchers found that despite the growing percentage of women completing training in the state’s GME programs, pay gaps between newly trained male and female physicians persist and are in fact widening. Findings from this study are detailed in a recent research brief, “Gender Pay Gaps Widen for Newly Trained Physicians“.

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Pharmacy Choice

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer today launched a major effort to urge his colleagues in both the Senate and House of Representatives to immediately pass the Physician Shortage Act of 2017. Schumer explained that this critical legislation will add 15,000 more Medicare-supported residency training slots for doctors, helping to ensure teaching hospitals can train enough physicians to meet the growing demands for physicians as our nation is already in the midst of a doctor shortage. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the U.S. is expected to face a shortage of up to 43,100 primary care physicians and 61,800 specialty physicians by 2030…

…Additionally, a recent major report for the Center for Health Workforce Studies (CHWSNY) found that providers are unevenly distributed across New York, with the Southern Tier often having far fewer physicians than it needs.

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Becker’s Hospital Review

For newly trained physicians in New York, the pay gap between men and women is growing, with male physicians making nearly $27,000 more on average in their starting incomes than their female counterparts, according to the Center for Health Workforce Studies.

“As has been observed in the general labor workforce, even as women have become a greater proportion of physicians in the workforce, the gender disparity in income has persisted and is growing,” the study authors wrote.

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Healthcare Finance

Pay gaps between newly-trained male and female physicians in New York are persisting, according to the Center for Health Workforce Studies. What’s worse is that, despite the growing percentage of women completing training in the state’s Graduate Medical Education programs, these pay gaps are actually widening over time.

The number of women completing a GME program in New York has been steadily increasing for a couple of decades. Between 1998 and 2016, the percentage of female GME graduates in the state grew from 36 to 48 percent, according to the Center for Health Workforce Studies. Currently, New York trains more than 16,000 physicians, and about 5,000 annually complete a training program in the state.

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Modern Healthcare

The income gap between new male and female physicians in New York has more than doubled from 2010 to 2016 even as the number of women entering the profession grows, a recent report found…

…”What is interesting is this is occurring at a time when more women are completing medical school and entering GME training — you think the opposite should be happening,” said Jean Moore, director of the Center for Health Workforce Studies.

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