Transcripts: 565.3 to 565.5

Week: 565.3 Guest: Dr. Jordan Cohen, President, Assoc. of American Medical Colleges Topic: Do we have too many doctors? (Part one of Three) Producer/Host: Steve Girard

NEMA: Too many doctors?....coming up....

SPOT: NEMA...the National Emergency Medicine Association... fights our worst health enemies - heart disease, stroke, trauma. Call 800-332-6362.

NEMA: The only yellow pages listing as long as 'Physicians', is 'Attorneys'...but are there too many doctors around? Dr. Jordan Cohen of the Association of American Medical Colleges says the number of residencies at teaching hospitals is inflated...

COHEN: We now have 25 thousand entry level positions in this second segment of the pipeline, in comparison to the 17 thousand graduates of U.S. medical schools...

NEMA: And 8 thousand positions filled by foreign med school graduates. Dr. Cohen says his organization and 5 others, including the American Medical Association, released an historic joint statement on physician numbers when the prestigious Institute of Medicine found the oversupply was serious...

COHEN: ...what they recommended was that there be mechanisms adopted by the federal government to try to reduce the number of training positions in teaching hospitals...

NEMA: But would that reduce the number of doctors serving the indigent or rural areas? Would foreign students be sent home after study? More with Dr. Jordan Cohen next time. I'm Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.

Transcripts:

Week: 565.4 Guest: Dr. Jordan Cohen, President, Assoc. of American Medical Colleges Topic: How the physician field became so crowded (Part two of three) Producer/Host: Steve Girard

NEMA: Reducing the physician work force...coming up...

SPOT: 15 years in the prevention of heart disease, stroke and trauma. The National Emergency Medicine Association. Call 800-332-6362.

NEMA: If the studies are correct, our nation is facing an oversupply of doctors. A consensus statement released by the six major medical organizations, claims there are flaws in the training hospital residency program...

COHEN: The way the Medicare program has been constructed, automatically there is an additional reimbursement to the teaching hospital as a consequence of the increased number of residents.

NEMA: Dr. Jordan Cohen, President of the Association of American Medical Colleges... says 25 thousand residencies is too many, requiring the acceptance of about 8 thousand foreign med school graduates... which results in too many doctors...

COHEN: So, what is needed in order to fix this problem...is to try to limit, in some fashion, the federal tax-dollar-generated support for these unnecessary surplus residency positions.

NEMA: Cohen says too many doctors means higher health costs...and our evolving health care system is aimed at using fewer physicians. More next time. I'm Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.

Transcripts:

Week: 565.5 Guest: Dr. Jordan Cohen, President, Assoc. of American Medical Colleges Topic: More doctors, shrinking need? (Part three of three) Producer/Host: Steve Girard

NEMA: A case for fewer physicians....coming up...

SPOT: For 15 years, the National Emergency Medicine Association has worked against stroke, heart disease and trauma. Join the effort, call 800-332-6362.

NEMA: Six prominent medical organizations have come together to endorse changes to the physician training system that would result in fewer doctors... after reports of a looming oversupply. Dr. Jordan Cohen is president of one of those organizations...the Association of American Medical Colleges...

COHEN: One of the most compelling arguments comes from the recognition that managed care organizations utilize fewer physicians for the subscribers to those programs than are required in the open ended, fee-for-service world.

NEMA: The consensus statement, which also included the American Medical Association, recommends less government funds for teaching hospital residencies... which now total 25 thousand. And Cohen dismisses the notion that with more doctors, more will serve people in the inner cities or rural areas...

COHEN: And the answer to that dilemma is to focus programs specifically on that set of issues, not just make more doctors in hope that they will eventually filter into these remote areas.

NEMA: The organizations hope Congress will hear their advice, and move to reduce federal residency money, and create a panel to monitor the size and makeup of the physician work force. I'm Steve Girard at The Heart of the Matter.