AAMC Reporter: April 2006

AAMC's Center for Workforce Studies: Perfect Timing

AAMC Center for Workforce Studies The Center for Workforce Studies will host the second annual Physician Workforce Research Conference in Washington, D.C., May 4-5

The AAMC's Center for Workforce Studies, founded in 2004, was "born at the right time," according to Center Director Ed Salsberg. The Center was established just as the nation was beginning to seriously question the forecasts of the 1990s of a national physician surplus. With concerns about a possible physician shortage beginning to dominate many policy discussions at academic medical centers, the Center seeks to bring the clarity of evidence and data to debates about whether there is likely to be a shortage and, if so, how to address it.

"I think the timing was very fortunate for the Center and for the AAMC. Clearly, these issues are rising to the forefront," Salsberg said.

"It takes time to change the physician supply, and that fact, coupled with the aging of the baby boom generation and the peaking of the physician workforce, makes this a really critical time. We want to provide the entire medical education community, policymakers, and the public with far better data in order to plan for the future," Salsberg said.

One of the Center's major goals is to put out a periodic report that will pull together all the most recent data, models, and knowledge about what the future supply and demand for physicians are likely to be. Salsberg expects to issue the first such report in 2007.

"We also hope to collect, analyze, and post data on the AAMC Web site to make it easier for medical schools, teaching hospitals, and others to get workforce information to use in analysis and decision-making," Salsberg said.

Among the Center's other ongoing projects:

• A study of physician retirement plans, including a survey of 14,000 physicians over 50, in collaboration with eight specialty societies, the American Medical Association, and the Council on Medical Specialty Societies

• A survey of physicians in their 30s and 40s to assess whether younger physicians have different
  practice patterns than in the past

• An annual medical school enrollment survey

• A clinical oncology workforce study funded by the American Society for Clinical Oncology

• A profile of the physician workforce, medical education, and training in Pennsylvania

• A thoracic surgery workforce study

• Medicare claims data analysis

The center will also host the second annual Physician Workforce Research Conference in Washington, D.C., May 4-5, 2006.

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