On March 21, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) issued new projections demonstrating that the U.S. faces a physician shortage of up to 86,000 physicians by 2036. This updated report titled “The Complexities of Physician Supply and Demand: Projections From 2021 to 2036” projects a shortfall of up to 19,900 surgeons and 40,400 primary care physicians. By comparison, the shortage projected in the new report is smaller than the findings demonstrated in the last report published by the AAMC in 2021.
The report confirms that lifting the federal statutory cap on Medicare support for GME will help alleviate the current and projected doctor shortage. To that end, the AANS and the CNS continue to urge Congress to pass the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act (H.R. 2389/S. 1302), which would help address the physician shortage by gradually increasing the number of Medicare-supported residency positions by 14,000 over seven years.
