West Virginia does not have enough primary care doctors to handle the expected influx of patients once the national health-care reform bill is fully enacted, members of a state health council said Thursday.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia does not have enough primary care doctors to handle the expected influx of patients once the national health-care reform bill is fully enacted, members of a state health council said Thursday.
"If we don't have providers, it won't make a difference what health issue [a resident] has," said Martha Walker, acting director of the Governor's Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle Planning.
Staff shortages in the medical field are not a new concern in West Virginia, but have the potential to become a "crisis" once the health-care bill is fully enacted in 2014, Walker said.
GOHELP council members representing the state's business, education, medical, labor and insurance industries weighed in Thursday on the progress and hurdles the state faces in the implementation of the health-care bill.
Without enough primary care physicians, residents can expect to see an increased wait time for appointments with doctors, said Gerry Stover, a representative for the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and the state Academy of Family Physicians, after Thursday's meeting.
Massachusetts implemented statewide reform in 2006 that mandates health coverage for nearly every resident, and has seen appointment wait times for family medical visits increase to 44 days from 36 days the year prior, according a 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society study.
Massachusetts employed about 130 active primary care doctors per 100,000 people in 2008, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
By comparison, West Virginia employs about 95 primary care doctors per 100,000 people, and about 28 percent are 60 or more years old, according to the data book.
GOHELP council members created a committee Thursday to look at the state's health care and technical teaching programs, and to see if the state has the ability to add more programs and what can be done to recruit or educate more people in needed fields.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia does not have enough primary care doctors to handle the expected influx of patients once the national health-care reform bill is fully enacted, members of a state health council said Thursday.
"If we don't have providers, it won't make a difference what health issue [a resident] has," said Martha Walker, acting director of the Governor's Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle Planning.
Staff shortages in the medical field are not a new concern in West Virginia, but have the potential to become a "crisis" once the health-care bill is fully enacted in 2014, Walker said.
GOHELP council members representing the state's business, education, medical, labor and insurance industries weighed in Thursday on the progress and hurdles the state faces in the implementation of the health-care bill.
Without enough primary care physicians, residents can expect to see an increased wait time for appointments with doctors, said Gerry Stover, a representative for the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission and the state Academy of Family Physicians, after Thursday's meeting.
Massachusetts implemented statewide reform in 2006 that mandates health coverage for nearly every resident, and has seen appointment wait times for family medical visits increase to 44 days from 36 days the year prior, according a 2009 Massachusetts Medical Society study.
Massachusetts employed about 130 active primary care doctors per 100,000 people in 2008, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
By comparison, West Virginia employs about 95 primary care doctors per 100,000 people, and about 28 percent are 60 or more years old, according to the data book.
GOHELP council members created a committee Thursday to look at the state's health care and technical teaching programs, and to see if the state has the ability to add more programs and what can be done to recruit or educate more people in needed fields.
The committee will also look at what health care fields are experiencing a shortage, and what can be done to beef up the industry before 2014.
About 87 percent of primary care physicians that go through residency in West Virginia stay in the state, Stover said. Just 11 percent of students who leave the state to complete their residency return to West Virginia, he said.
The state has no track record of recruiting out-of-state primary care doctors, he said.
The number of medical students going into primary care is also dropping, because they can make more money in other specialties, said Dr. David Avery, a representative for the state Academy of Family Physicians,
Avery recommended the state entice students to stay in West Virginia and specialize in primary care with loan repayment programs.
"We're looking to retain, recruit and educate primary care doctors," he said.
West Virginia also loses a number of its doctors to other states because of a lack of available fellowships, said Amanda Pasdon, GOHELP representative for the state Chamber of Commerce.
"They leave to do a fellowship and stay gone," Pasdon said.
Reach Veronica Nett at veroni...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5113.
