A Report Card on the Physician Work Force in the United States

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Abstract
In a 1992 report,1 the Council on Graduate Medical Education concluded that deficiencies in the physician work force, the medical-education system, and public policy would hinder efforts to provide high-quality and affordable health care for all people in the United States. A surplus of specialists, shortages of minority physicians and generalists, poor geographic distribution of physicians, and inadequate training of physicians in key practice skills were identified as problems. A series of national goals were recommended that, if attained by the year 2000, would result in a physician work force better suited in composition and skills to respond to health care needs. These goals included limiting the number of federally funded first-year resident positions to 110 percent of the number of graduates of U.S. medical schools in 1993; ensuring that at least half of graduates who complete training each year begin careers in family practice, general internal medicine, or general pediatrics; doubling the number of African American, Hispanic, and Native American medical students; eliminating shortages of primary care physicians in specific areas; and improving the skills of practicing physicians.

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