The cumulative 2005 National Resident Matching Program results, published March 14, paint a mixed picture for family medicine. The specialty saw the highest fill rate in six years but only after a 3.5 percent drop in the number of residency positions offered.
Mixed Results Overall: Family Medicine Fill Rate Moves Upward in 2005 Match
By News Staff
3/18/2005
This story first appeared in the March 18, 2005, AAFP Direct.
Like the incremental increases in demand for family physicians, student interest in the specialty inched up for the second consecutive year. According to the 2005 match results, family medicine achieved an 82.4 percent fill rate, up from 78.8 percent in the 2004 match. Applicants filled 19 more positions in 2005 than in 2004; of the 2,782 positions offered this year, 2,292 were filled, according to the NRMP results.
Complete 2005 match results are available at http://www.aafp.org/match/.
The trend may indicate that student interest in family medicine will run parallel to demand for FPs. The 2003 Survey of Hospital Physician Recruitment Trends, the most recent survey published online by Merritt, Hawkins & Associates, showed family medicine was the fourth most heavily recruited specialty. The physician recruiting company reported a 35 percent increase in FP recruitment contracts, with 45 percent of all hospitals actively recruiting family doctors.
That demand is likely to increase, particularly if Congress agrees with the Bush administration’s plan to expand the nation’s community health centers by 40 new sites for a total of 1,200 serving 6.1 million patients by next year. Those additional centers -- like the existing services -- will largely depend on family physicians for medical staff.
Within the family medicine community, the 2005 match stirs concern. The higher fill rate was accomplished, in part, by slicing 102 positions from the number offered last year, said Perry Pugno, M.D, M.P.H., director of AAFP’s Medical Education Division.
“Since 1988, family medicine has reduced the positions offered by 511, but during that same period, U.S. seniors selecting family medicine have declined by 1,047,” said Pugno in an analysis of the 2005 match results. That trend is of concern because many international medical graduates who fill the residency ranks return to their native countries to practice, he said, adding, “The result of this disturbing trend is a health care delivery system that is severely compromised in its ability to meet the growing needs of our nation.”
Pugno’s analysis points to research by Barbara Starfield, M.D., M.P.H., and others who say high primary care physician-to-patient ratios yield better individual and population health outcomes. Their studies “clearly demonstrate that the higher the primary care physician-to-population ratio in a state, the better the health outcomes,” said Pugno.
“The crisis of our health status, while certainly multifactorial, appears to hinge on the failings of our system to provide adequate, appropriate primary care to meet the needs of our nation,” said Pugno. “Improving access to care can only improve health so long as the access is to the appropriate care.”
Complete 2005 match results are available at http://www.aafp.org/match/.
The trend may indicate that student interest in family medicine will run parallel to demand for FPs. The 2003 Survey of Hospital Physician Recruitment Trends, the most recent survey published online by Merritt, Hawkins & Associates, showed family medicine was the fourth most heavily recruited specialty. The physician recruiting company reported a 35 percent increase in FP recruitment contracts, with 45 percent of all hospitals actively recruiting family doctors.
That demand is likely to increase, particularly if Congress agrees with the Bush administration’s plan to expand the nation’s community health centers by 40 new sites for a total of 1,200 serving 6.1 million patients by next year. Those additional centers -- like the existing services -- will largely depend on family physicians for medical staff.
Within the family medicine community, the 2005 match stirs concern. The higher fill rate was accomplished, in part, by slicing 102 positions from the number offered last year, said Perry Pugno, M.D, M.P.H., director of AAFP’s Medical Education Division.
“Since 1988, family medicine has reduced the positions offered by 511, but during that same period, U.S. seniors selecting family medicine have declined by 1,047,” said Pugno in an analysis of the 2005 match results. That trend is of concern because many international medical graduates who fill the residency ranks return to their native countries to practice, he said, adding, “The result of this disturbing trend is a health care delivery system that is severely compromised in its ability to meet the growing needs of our nation.”
Pugno’s analysis points to research by Barbara Starfield, M.D., M.P.H., and others who say high primary care physician-to-patient ratios yield better individual and population health outcomes. Their studies “clearly demonstrate that the higher the primary care physician-to-population ratio in a state, the better the health outcomes,” said Pugno.
“The crisis of our health status, while certainly multifactorial, appears to hinge on the failings of our system to provide adequate, appropriate primary care to meet the needs of our nation,” said Pugno. “Improving access to care can only improve health so long as the access is to the appropriate care.”
