New Jersey Facing Medical Emergency
Posted January 29, 2010

This week, the Star Ledger published an extremely disturbing article reporting on a trend that will affect families across New Jersey. The title says it all: "N.J. will be short nearly 3,000 doctors in the next decade without changes, report says."

The report referred to was released by the New Jersey Council of Teaching Hospitals, and it found:

         New Jersey is facing significant future shortages in both primary care and several

         specialty areas. In eleven years (2020) there is a projected shortfall of over 2,800

additional physicians beyond the current physician graduate medical education (GME) production pipeline representing a 12 percent gap in the physician supply versus the likely population demand for services. The shortage consists of approximately 1,000 primary care physicians and 1,800 specialists. 

The Star Ledger reports that J. Richard Goldstein, a physician as well as the president and CEO of the Council, cites "a ‘morale problem' among many of the state's 23,800 licensed physicians" as the reason for the shortage. And causes of the depleted morale include "the crushing costs of running a business, paltry reimbursements for treating elderly and poor patients and the threat of malpractice lawsuits." 

"Physicians ... do not recommend their children practice medicine. To the residents they train, they recommend they go someplace else. The brain drain goes on all the time," Goldstein said at a press conference at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick.

Indeed, just as high taxes and regulations have driven families and businesses out of state, so, too, outrageous insurance costs are driving doctors away.

And while New Jersey isn't the only state facing a shortage, according to Deborah Briggs, Vice President for Policy and Advocacy for the Council, our state ranks 48^th in the nation in terms of high costs for medical malpractice insurance. The only states worse are Florida and Pennsylvania.

What does this have to do with the family?

A whole lot.

Driving quality medical care out of state does nothing to make New Jersey a vibrant and welcoming place to raise a family. Indeed, it does quite the opposite.

The Physician Workforce Policy Task Force, created by the NJ Council of Teaching Hospitals, issued a press release with several recommendations to help rectify the problem. The key recommendations stated in the release were:

• Create the "Center for Medical and Health Workforce Planning" (Center) to continue monitoring, forecasting, predicting, and refining recommendations. The Center will collect and analyze data and prepare reports on health workforce supply and demand trends. The Center will guide the allocation of resources based on workforce needs, track physician and advanced practice provider shortages to determine GME and other funding priorities, manage "vacant" resident positions, and direct funds to the individual programs with greatest impact on workforce retention and recruitment.
• Align strategic planning, annual goals and incentives between the medical schools, teaching hospitals and the State of New Jersey.
• Expand retention and recruitment initiatives to encourage physicians to enter, remain in,  or return to practice in New Jersey by taking the following steps:
• Create a fellowship-training fund and physician recruitment fund targeting physicians leaving the state for additional medical training. 
• Expand the current loan redemption program to target specialties with the most significant shortages.
• Establish a three-year state tax forgiveness program, practice subsidy fund, and a loan assistance program for new physicians.
• Expand pipeline programs (K-12) that motivate and prepare New Jersey's children for medical careers.
• Identify, target, and enroll students in medical schools who will more likely practice in New Jersey.
• Establish "incentive grants" for medical schools and teaching hospitals that reward retention of graduates post graduation.
• Enhance state funding for medical education and postgraduate physician residency programs.
• Pursue federal reforms to address systemic problems in GME funding mechanisms, administrative processes, and regulatory oversight.

Additionally, legislation is currently being drafted to address the physician shortage. We firmly believe the best legislation will reduce burdens on physicians and rein in frivolous lawsuits.

As this issue develops, we will continue to track and monitor it, and we will keep you posted.

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