Children and Health Focus

With the advice from my economics mentor, Anya Samak, I'm going to focus this blog into a Health Economics blog with a particular emphasis on children, education, and their health.

I'm also going to translate health economics literature/research into digestible and quotable blog posts, while providing the public quick references, evidence, and new knowledge gained from the most recent research--or research I find really interesting.

I'll also try to post interesting and up to date news articles I come across relating to health, youth development and education, as well as asking questions and expressing my own opinion and ideas.

Let's see what happens.

Thanks Anya, for the recommendation.  I think this could be something really cool.

Michigan: Supply and Demand of Primary Care Medical Residents and Specialists

2008-2012 National Resident Match Program Results for Michigan.


Medical Students (UME) Matched to their Residency Specialization (Graduate Medical School).

Michigan:

UME Students Matched to Primary Care Residencies for GME:

	Years
Resident Type	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	Grand Total
General Practitioner
Sum of Quota	94	94	99	111	109	507
Sum of Matched	83	83	86	98	99	449
Internal Medicine
Sum of Quota	153	157	182	168	190	850
Sum of Matched	153	157	181	168	190	849
Obstetrics-Gynecology
Sum of Quota	47	48	53	52	52	252
Sum of Matched	47	48	53	52	52	252
Pediatrics
Sum of Quota	91	95	110	109	103	508
Sum of Matched	90	94	107	104	103	498
Total Sum of Quota	385	394	444	440	454	2117
Total Sum of Matched	373	382	427	422	444	2048

UME Students Matched to Specialist Residencies for GME:

	Years
Resident Type	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	Grand Total
Non-Primary Care Providers
Sum of Quota	521	553	580	606	596	2856
Sum of Matched	480	522	536	557	542	2637
Total Sum of Quota	521	553	580	606	596	2856
Total Sum of Matched	480	522	536	557	542	2637

Do you see a shortage?


What may lie behind these results of physician shortages within Michigan?  Basic economic intuition could say the barriers to entry within the medical field limit the supply of doctors.  By barriers to entry, I mean the high cost of medical school and residency.


Or, we could explain excess demand from untaxed healthcare fringe benefits that drive up the total demand of healthcare--and therefore doctors--at a faster rate than our current medical education system can accredit and train the necessary doctors to reach that demand.


But we also run into a few snags.  Bigger academic and research hospitals usually don't face shortages.  There could also be regional differences: rural hospitals may find it harder to compete for physicians in the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP)--which I'll discuss a little later--and be left with no doctors left to fill their positions after they've been taken by bigger research hospitals or urban hospitals with more prestigious residency programs.


I don't know.  I'll have to look into this a little more.  


Interesting to think about, no?