The Increasing Demand for Primary Care Physicians

Being a doctor is the dream of millions and millions of people every year, young and old. Not only do you make a very good living, but you also get to help people with a variety of problems with their health and can save lives in the process.

However, despite how many people dream of being a doctor, it doesn’t seem as if many are following through with it. This is evident because there is an increasing demand for doctors (especially primary care physicians) all throughout the country. This article is going to take a look at why the demand is increasing, what the statistics tell us, and more.

What is a Primary Care Physician?

The word “doctor” is quite general and can really apply to anyone with a doctorate degree in any discipline. With that in mind, we figured we might as well begin the article by looking at which type of doctor is among the highest in demand – a primary care physician.

A primary care physician is essentially a doctor who practices general medicine and is often the first person you will see for medical care or for a first opinion. They can treat some conditions in their offices and if not, can write your prescriptions or refer you to a specialist. As you could imagine, these doctors have a wide range of knowledge and are capable of caring for a variety of different ailments.

Why Is There an Increase in Demand? What Do The Statistics Tell Us?

As mentioned in the introduction, there is a continuously growing demand for primary care physicians in the USA. This is because of the aging population in the USA. People are living longer than ever before and thus, the average age of an American is steadily on the rise. Of course, the longer people stay alive, the more medical care they need.

According to statistics, many states across the country are not having their primary-care needs met, and there is no guarantee things will get better. Another reason why there is a shortage of primary care physicians (and thus a high demand for them), is that a majority of doctors will stay near where they went to school.

With many medical schools in the Northeast US, it makes sense that other geographical areas will have major shortages. Also, many of those who want to be doctors are choosing to work as a specialist as they often work fewer hours but make quite a bit more money when it comes to starting salary.

Positives To Becoming a Primary Care Physician

While they might not always make as much more as a specialist and might need to know more, there are some very real advantages to taking primary care or family physician jobs. They include:

• Those searching for work as a primary care physician will have a much easier time finding satisfactory jobs, due to the high demand. This leads to more job offers and the potential to essentially choose where you want to work for many doctors.
• The average increase in median starting income was 4% for primary care physicians vs. 3% percent for specialists over the last few years, so the outlook is trending in the right direction.
• You get the ability to work in a wide range of different areas and get to help several different people with several different ailments each day. You can also build long-lasting relationships with those you see, which is a very rewarding thing.