BY LESLIE CHAMPLIN
Family medicine may have reached a turning point. That notion, drawn from a 2.6 percent uptick in the March 2004 fill rate for family medicine residencies compared with last year's figures, bodes a more robust future for the specialty, say Academy leaders.
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Released March 18 by the National Resident Matching Program, the data showed a 78.8 percent fill rate for family medicine residency positions, up from 76.2 percent in 2003. Of the 2,864 positions offered this year, 2,256 were filled.
AAFP President Michael Fleming, M.D., of Shreveport, La., said the results indicated family medicine may have passed its recent nadir. "The increase, though small, is good news," he said.
Perry Pugno, M.D., director of the AAFP Division of Medical Education, agreed. "The decline in student interest in family medicine is about to turn around as a new generation of medical students comes to the forefront," he said. "We're hearing more and more that medical students today are more driven by a community focus."
Watchful optimism
Though good news overall, the 2004 match data still contain some cautionary elements. The percentage of family medicine positions filled by U.S. medical school seniors slipped by 0.2 percent, from 42 percent in 2003 to 41.8 percent this year. However, the decline represents the smallest decrease since 1996. In previous years, the percentage dropped far more precipitously -- by as much as 8.2 percent between 2000 and 2001.
Also, said Fleming, "it is important to note that 76 fewer family medicine positions were offered this year. Family medicine residencies are facing financial challenges, due in part to the reductions in payments that resulted from the Balanced Budget Act of 1997. Reduction in annual federal appropriations for health professions training is adding pressure. The number of positions offered in family medicine residencies has declined each year since 1998."
Family medicine's response
The family medicine fill rate rose from 77.3 percent in 1993 to a high of 90.5 percent in 1996. Then it began subsiding.
The specialty has responded. Armed with data from the student interest study by the University of Arizona, Tucson, the AAFP and other family medicine organizations have been developing initiatives to help enhance student interest in family medicine. In addition, the Future of Family Medicine project addresses student interest in the specialty.
"The Academy is working to ensure this country doesn't lose its family doctors," said Fleming. "We're happy the number of filled family medicine residency positions went up this year."
To reach writer Leslie Champlin, e-mail lchampli@aafp.org.
FP Report is published by the AAFP
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Copyright © 2004 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.