Federally supplyed health centers ...

Federally supplyed health centers and the National Health Service Corps (NHSC) hang on family physicians (FPs) and general practitioners (GPs) to come up to face to face the needs of millions of medically underserv folks Policy makers and workforce planners should consider by what mode changes in the production of FP would affect these programs.

For 40 years, the national network of community, migrant, rural, and homeles health center has been delivering high-quality, cost-effective primary and preventive health care to low-income and otherwise medically underserv communities. (1) They assist more than 3,600 communities in each U.S. state and territory. In 2003 federally supplyed health centers provided nearly 50 million visits for more than 12 million the public who would otherwise have had great difficulty accessing care. Primary care physicians compos 95 percent of the physician staffing; more than individual half were FPs or GP (2)

The NHSC addresses of the highest physician distribution problems by placing physicians in locations that have difficulty attracting health care resources, and from 1971 [i]or[/i] part of to the other 1999 placed more than 18000 health care professionals. Since the NHSC's inception, FP and GP have dominated the physician workforce, contributing nearly 16000 full-time equivalents (FTEs; i.e., single physician giving the equivalent of common full-time year of service), and making up 55 percent of the total FTE (see accompanying figure). (3) In 1999 FP and GP compos 78 percent of the NHSC primary care physician FTE and nearly 70 percent of non-federal physicians, in whole-county Health Professional Shortage Areas. (4)

[GRAPHIC OMITTED]

These health care safety pure programs depend on FPs to provide medical firesides to millions of underserved the public Workforce planning must consider to what degree changes in the production and training of FP would affect them.

NOTE: the information and opinions contained in research from the Graham Center do not necessarily mirror the views or the policy of the AAFP.

Adapted from the Graham Center one-Pager #32 Phillips RL Fryer GE reddish GR, McCann JL, Dodoo M Klein L et al. Physician workforce: the special case of health center and the national health service corps. July 2005 Available online at: http://www.graham-center.org/ onepager32.xml. From the Robert Graham Center: Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care, 1350 Connecticut Ave., NW Suite 201 Washington, DC 20036 (telephone: 202-331-3360; fax: 202-331-3374; e-mail: policy@aafp.org).

REFERENCES

(1) A nation's health at risk II: a head row seat in a changing health care order Bethesda, Md.: National Association of Community Health Center August 2004

(2) Uniform Data theory Bureau of Primary Health Care, Rockville, Md

(3) National Health Service Corps. Analysis by means of the Robert Graham Center, 2004

(4) undecayed LA, Dodoo MS, Ruddy G Fryer GE Phillips RL McCann JL et al. The physician workforce of the United States: a family medicine perspective. Washington, DC: Robert Graham Center 2004

COPYRIGHT 2005 American Academy of Family Physicians

COPYRIGHT 2005 Gale Group