Over the weekend, I took a long look at what the health-reform law does to address a looming shortage of primary care doctors. And the short answer is: Not much. The health reform law has funded a Primary Care Residency Expansion, a $167 million program that will train 889 doctors, as well as $28 million in National Health Service Corps scholarships, for students pursuing primary care careers. That all feels like pretty small potatoes, however, when you look at what we're up against: A projected shortage of nearly 30,000 primary care providers by 2015.
