Increased number of physicians will not solve problems with health care system, opinion piece says

[Jul 10, 2006]-- "[T]he most serious problems facing our health care system -- accelerating costs, poor quality of care and the rising ranks of the uninsured -- cannot be solved by more doctors," despite a recent recommendation by the Association of American Medical Colleges that it increase by 30% the number of doctors it trains, David Goodman, a professor of pediatrics and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, writes in a New York Times opinion piece.

   He says studies have found that quality of care does not increase with the number of available doctors, and "[s]tudies of individual hospitals have likewise shown that while the doctor-patient ratio varies widely from place to place, more doctors do not mean better care."

He adds, "By training more doctors than we need, we will continue to fill more hospital beds, order more diagnostic tests -- in short, spend more money." According to Goodman, resources would be better spent on "improving efforts to prevent illness and manage chronic ailments like diabetes and heart disease." He adds that better coordination of care -- through multispecialty practices integrated with hospitals -- also would be more beneficial than adding more physicians. He concludes, "Instead of training more doctors, let's make better use of the ones we already have" (Goodman, New York Times, 7/10).