Concern grows around US health-care workforce shortage: ‘We don't have enough doctors'

Some US lawmakers are increasingly concerned about the shortage of health care workers in the country. Leaders of historically Black medical colleges also call for increased funding to help train a diverse workforce.

These numbers are based upon data HRSA receives directly from state offices and departments of health.

Bernie Sanders, Vermont Senator, told CNN that 'we don't have the health care workforce we need'. We don't have nearly enough doctors. There are not enough nurses. We don't enough addiction counselors or psychologists. We do not have enough pharmacists.

In Atlanta, on Friday, to discuss the shortage of health care workers in the country.

Sanders, the chairman of Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, stated that.

Sanders stated that the committee's goal is to increase the number of Black doctors, nurses, and psychologists in the health care workforce.

The leaders of Morehouse School of Medicine and Meharry Medical College as well as Howard University and Charles R. Drew University demanded that their institutions be given more opportunities and resources to grow the nation's future health-care workforce.

CNN reported that Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice of the Morehouse Medical School said, 'Allocating resource and opportunities is important for us in order to increase our capacity, scholarships, and programming, to support these students through their matriculation.

Rice added that the United States' health inequities can be reduced by having a workforce that is representative of the communities it serves.

Hugh Mighty said that historically black medical schools were 'the backbone of training Black doctors in the United States'. He made this statement at a Friday event. As the Black physician shortages increase, communities in need will continue being underserved.

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, a government agency, estimates that health inequities have cost the United States billions of dollars. Inequities like this are shown by the fact that Black and Brown communities have higher rates of serious outcomes in terms of health, such as maternal mortality, chronic diseases and infectious disease.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University, among others, examined excess medical expenditures, death certificates and other US data between 2016 and 2019. The researchers examined health inequities, including differences in medical costs and premature deaths. They also looked at the lost productivity of the labor market due to illness.

Researchers found that in 2018, the financial burden of health disparities for racial or ethnic minorities in the United States reached $451 billion. The economic burden for adults with a four-year degree is $978 billion.

These findings are a clear message for health care leaders and public health officials as well as state and federal policymakers. The economic magnitude of US health inequities is shockingly high. In an editorial accompanying the study published in JAMA, Harvard University's Rishi Wadhera, and Issa dahabreh wrote.

Rice stated that the Covid-19 pandemic had 'pulled back the curtain' on health disparities, including premature deaths and other issues, and that 'we've seen a disproportionate burden on certain communities.

Rice stated that 'we saw a greater death rate in Black-brown communities due to access, fear, and a bunch of other factors including what we recognize is racism and unconscious bias'.

We needed more doctors, more health care providers. We know that by 2050 we will have a shortage of physicians because we can't train and educate enough health professionals quickly enough. We can't rely solely on doctors. We must rely on teamwork.

She said that due to the shortage of healthcare workers in the United States, the country is ill-prepared for future pandemics.

According to the American Medical Association, the United States will face a shortage up to 124,000 doctors by 2034 due to the fact that demand is outpacing supply.
Association of American Medical Colleges
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Sanders stated that the shortage of workers means "we are really not prepared" for a pandemic.

We don't have all the infrastructure for public health that is needed in each state. Sanders stated that there are not enough doctors and nurses to meet the needs of the country. Sanders said, 'We are now trying to introduce legislation that will create more doctors, nurses, and dentists because dental care in America is a major problem.

Sanders and Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy describing the 'root cause' of the shortage in health care workforce and possible ways that some states hope to combat the crisis.

McBride writes that 'Governors are taking innovative steps to deal with the shortage of healthcare workers in their states and territories. They have increased recruitment efforts, relaxed licensing requirements, expanded training programs, and raised provider pay.

The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the shortage of healthcare workers in the last three years. He wrote that stress and burnout have exacerbated the problem. The retirement and aging a generation of healthcare workers is at the forefront of the shortage of healthcare workers, especially in rural communities.