one reason to be interested in mortuary stats

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-doctors4jun04,0,1528090.story?track=mostviewed-homepage


Physician Shortage Looms, Risking a Crisis, as Demand for Care Explodes
An aging America needs more doctors, but supply isn't keeping up. Experts fear worsening quality and dangerously long waits for appointments.



A looming doctor shortage threatens to create a national healthcare crisis by further limiting access to physicians, jeopardizing quality and accelerating cost increases.

Twelve states — including California, Texas and Florida — report some physician shortages now or expect them within a few years. Across the country, patients are experiencing or soon will face shortages in at least a dozen physician specialties, including cardiology and radiology and several pediatric and surgical subspecialties.

-snip-

Over the next 15 years, aging baby boomers will push urologists, geriatricians and other physicians into overdrive. Their cloudy eyes alone, one study found, could boost the demand for cataract surgery by 47%.

-snip-

For a routine gynecological checkup, women faced an average wait of 23 days, the survey showed. To see a cardiologist for a heart checkup, the wait was 19 days. And to have an orthopedic surgeon check out a knee injury, the average wait was 17 days.

-snip-

"People are going to really hurt," said Dr. Richard Cooper, a professor of medicine and economics at the University of Pennsylvania. "Right now we have well-trained nurse practitioners to pick up a lot of the work, but when even they are overwhelmed, the whole thing really falls apart. We're at the cusp, and it's a little worrisome."
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we are past the cusp we are screaming down - - to the mortuary stats that need to be keep track of.

Now, about care in the interim period, yeah, we be so screwed.

Hope all those fools who bemoan paying taxes for schools even though they have no children enrolled consider the personal consequences of not supporting good public education and helping qualified young people with college expenses as they deal with shortage of medical care workers.

I thought only the socialized medical care systems caused this? Dumb me.

nt

Total mind melt guys!

Only the long wait list is mammygrams. Unless it's marked 'stat', the wait here can be 6 months or longer.

My GP office is really a 'walk in' type clinic. The waits are not longer. Infact, I have found they are shorter. WIth a regular office, people are scheduled every 10 to 15 mintues.. plus 'emergencys' are slipped in between. No way to keep on schedule, not all patients need JUST 10 to 15 mintues. Most need much longer.

With the walk in, first come, first served. Only if it's truely a medical emergency does one skip in line.

I had the same thought.
So now we have documented evidence that even we--the chosen Americans--have to wait for healthcare just like our nationalized healthcare counterparts. Oh the horror!
Couple that with the fact that Harvard says that Canadians have better access to healthcare and are healthier--and at much less cost.
Who is going to wake the sheeple?
I was having a conversation with a Doctor at work. Apparently one of his patients brought their hospital bill to him to gripe. He lamented the high cost of services--especially Respiratory Therapy.
Several co-workers chimed in at the bitch session of the high cost of healthcare.
However, when I stated that it sure seems like a good incentive to support a National Healthcare Plan...crickets chirped.
Nobody said a word.

tell them to take a look around here

without enough doctors we can wait a till the cows come home