Medical school enrollment for the 2005 - 06 entering class reached a record 17,000, according to data recently released by the Association of American Medical Colleges.
Medical School Enrollment, Applications Surge
Data indicated that first-time enrollees in the nation's 125 allopathic medical schools grew by 2.1 percent over the 2004 total of 16,648. Twenty-two schools expanded their first-year class size by 5 percent or more; seven of those schools boosted first-year enrollment by more than 10 percent.
Half of the 22 schools with the greatest increase in enrollment also have solid records in recruiting family physicians. For example, the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University, where 22.9 percent of graduates from the last three years chose family medicine, saw a 15.4 percent increase in first-year enrollment.
"This increase suggests the potential for a similar increase in the number of students selecting family medicine careers," said Perry Pugno, M.D., M.P.H., director of the AAFP Division of Medical Education.
And the trend may continue. Applications to the schools also surged to 37,364 for the 2005 - 06 school year, a 4.6 percent gain over last year's applicant pool of 35,735.
The news comes less than a year after the Council on Graduate Medical Education's 16th Report to Congress predicted an overall physician shortage in 10 to 15 years. The report recommended increasing medical school enrollment in the next decade by 15 percent over 2002 levels.
However, the report also dropped its long-standing recommendation that half of U.S. medical school graduates become generalists. Instead, the COGME report says, the marketplace should determine the ratio of primary care to subspecialty residency slots.
Undifferentiated increases in physician specialties, however, will not address the nation's true medical needs, according to analysts. Health care policy that encourages expansion of the physician workforce without regard to the ratio between primary care doctors and subspecialists will further fragment the medical system, increase costs and fail to improve quality, according to Robert Phillips, M.D., M.S.P.H., director of the Robert Graham Center in Washington.
Writing in "Adding More Specialists Is Not Likely To Improve Population Health: Is Anyone Listening?" a March 15 Health Affairs Web Exclusive, Phillips points to ongoing research by Barbara Starfield, M.D., M.P.H., professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore.
"Policymakers should pay attention to Starfield and colleagues' troubling finding that having more specialists is not a good thing, and that primary care is," Phillips wrote.
In her Health Affairs Web Exclusive article, "The Effects of Specialist Supply on Populations' Health: Assessing the Evidence," Starfield and her co-authors cited numerous studies showing that greater numbers of primary care physicians can lower mortality rates.
"Increasing the supply of specialists will not improve the United States' position in population (health) relative to other industrialized countries, and it is likely to lead to greater disparities in health status and outcomes," Starfield wrote.
Half of the 22 schools with the greatest increase in enrollment also have solid records in recruiting family physicians. For example, the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University, where 22.9 percent of graduates from the last three years chose family medicine, saw a 15.4 percent increase in first-year enrollment.
"This increase suggests the potential for a similar increase in the number of students selecting family medicine careers," said Perry Pugno, M.D., M.P.H., director of the AAFP Division of Medical Education.
And the trend may continue. Applications to the schools also surged to 37,364 for the 2005 - 06 school year, a 4.6 percent gain over last year's applicant pool of 35,735.
The news comes less than a year after the Council on Graduate Medical Education's 16th Report to Congress predicted an overall physician shortage in 10 to 15 years. The report recommended increasing medical school enrollment in the next decade by 15 percent over 2002 levels.
However, the report also dropped its long-standing recommendation that half of U.S. medical school graduates become generalists. Instead, the COGME report says, the marketplace should determine the ratio of primary care to subspecialty residency slots.
Undifferentiated increases in physician specialties, however, will not address the nation's true medical needs, according to analysts. Health care policy that encourages expansion of the physician workforce without regard to the ratio between primary care doctors and subspecialists will further fragment the medical system, increase costs and fail to improve quality, according to Robert Phillips, M.D., M.S.P.H., director of the Robert Graham Center in Washington.
Writing in "Adding More Specialists Is Not Likely To Improve Population Health: Is Anyone Listening?" a March 15 Health Affairs Web Exclusive, Phillips points to ongoing research by Barbara Starfield, M.D., M.P.H., professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore.
"Policymakers should pay attention to Starfield and colleagues' troubling finding that having more specialists is not a good thing, and that primary care is," Phillips wrote.
In her Health Affairs Web Exclusive article, "The Effects of Specialist Supply on Populations' Health: Assessing the Evidence," Starfield and her co-authors cited numerous studies showing that greater numbers of primary care physicians can lower mortality rates.
"Increasing the supply of specialists will not improve the United States' position in population (health) relative to other industrialized countries, and it is likely to lead to greater disparities in health status and outcomes," Starfield wrote.
