One more state predicting a shortage of physicians and less entering primary care. BD
One-third of Colorado physicians are 55 or older, and retirements will soon create a shortage of care for aging residents, according to a new report.
"We have a whole generation of practicing physicians who are now on the cusp of retirement, and we don't know who is coming in behind them," said Pamela Hanes, president of the Colorado Health Institute, or CHI.
The Colorado figures reflect national trends, said Tim Fry, manager of government affairs at the National Rural Health Association in Alexandria, Va.
"We're facing a workforce issue nationwide in rural and urban areas, but the physician shortages are going to show up earlier and more acutely in rural areas," Fry said. "We see a continued movement to specialty care and to urban areas," Fry said. "We don't see a lot of young physicians choosing primary-care practice," Hanes said.
Durango residents new to Medicare - the federal insurance program for people 65 and older - can no longer find a doctor willing to take them, Murphy said. The Valley-Wide Health Systems clinic in Durango closed this year, Murphy said, leaving a large number of residents, possibly more than 1,000, without doctors.
"At the same time, a lot of people are saying having health insurance is not enough if you don't have the providers," she said.
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