This is a start toward beginning to address a critical shortage of primary care physicians, nursing students and physicians’ assistants.

You may be puzzled by the amount of money it takes to produce 500 primary care physicians, 600 nursing students and 600 physicians’ assistants. $250 million is a lot of money.

However, one of the causes of the shortage has been that the educational infrastructure could not accommodate more students without an infusion of money to expand. It is not that there are currently empty seats in clinical classrooms. It is that these have to be built, faculty hired…the works.

The Washington Post

“In an attempt to address a national shortage of health-care workers, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said Wednesday that the federal government will spend $250 million in programs to increase the number of doctors, nurses and other care providers.

“The money is the first allotment from the Prevention and Public Health Fund, created by the new health-care law, the Obama administration said in a statement. It includes $168 million to train 500 new primary-care physicians over the next five years, $30 million to encourage 600 nursing students to attend school full-time and complete their education, and $32 million to create 600 new physician assistants.

“As the health law inches toward full implementation in 2014, the nation faces a major shortage of primary-care doctors and nurses “due to the needs of an aging population and a decline in the number of medical students choosing primary care,” the announcement said. In addition, thousands of aging baby boomers who are doctors and nurses are eyeing retirement.”

Source: Washington Post, June 17, 2010