Grant med school grads provisional licenses.
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Very interesting idea reported by the Heritage Foundation …
It widely accepted that the U.S. has a current shortage of doctors that is expected to balloon as the demand increases (aging population, expanded Medicaid, etc.).
Current estimates put the 2030 shortage between 40,000 and 105,000.

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Each year, US med schools crank out about 18,000 medical degrees. Source
Dictated by the AMA, before getting licensed, these grads need to go through formal residency programs at teaching hospitals.
Here’s the rub.
The residency programs are largely government funded, and there are spending caps.
Spending caps translate to enrollment caps.
So, each year, about 5,000 of the med school grads — more than 25%) — don’t get a residency slot.
No residency, no license.
Reportedly, these non-residentially certified med school grads either land in non-patient treating medical jobs (think “pharma”) or leave healthcare all together.
The usual response: just throw more tax dollars at the problem.
But, there are other options…
Addressing the problem, a few states have implemented a program that Heritage is now touting: provisional licenses.
(more…)