Within a decade, a third of all U.S. physicians will hang up their stethoscopes for good and step into retirement while the supply of doctors will grow by only 7%, says a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In Massachusetts, the first state to adopt near-universal healthcare, the shortage of doctors is already being felt. When (if?) the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act fully rolls out and millions are added to the rolls of the insured, the demand for doctors will only accelerate.
Amid all the anguish over changes to come from the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, perhaps this is the most daunting: the expected doubling in size of the patient load. But relief may come from community health centers, which have an important role to play in training future primary care docs, says this report.
So the announcement this week that philanthropist and NFL team owner Robert Kraft is giving $20 million to Partners Healthcare System to fund The Kraft Family National Center for Leadership and Training in Community Health to train community-based physician leaders comes at a very good time, not only for Massachusetts, but for the country (the center will be a national resource) and for healthcare philanthropy, which has been brutally battered by the recession.
Charitable giving to healthcare organizations fell 11% in 2009, the last year for which numbers are available, according to the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy.
Whether Kraft's gift signals resurgence in philanthropy remains to be seen. What it does indicate is a very good understanding of where the financial need is great. Kraft's gift includes
- a fellowship training program for physician leaders in community health in primary care, internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, and women’s health
- a loan repayment incentive of $50,000 for physicians who commit to a minimum of two years of service in a community-based program
- a loan repayment incentive of $30,000 for nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and other master’s-prepared nurses who make the same commitment
Kraft is listed No. 269 on the 2010 Forbes 400 list, with a net worth of $1.5 billion. He is the owner of the New England Patriots and the New England Revolution (Major League Soccer). His largesse is a move straight out of the primary care provider wishlist playbook.