The need for more primary care physicians to contain costs and improve access: myths versus realities

It is commonly believed that there is a surplus of specialists in this country as well as a deficit of primary care physicians. To remedy this, pressure has been exerted on medical schools to change their curriculum and to specifically assure that at least 50% of all graduates will enter primary care careers. The data, however, suggest that although we have an excess of specialists, there is no deficit of primary care physicians. Changes that are occurring in the medical marketplace have already resulted in more residents entering primary care fields independent of curricular changes. The training of both medical students and residents, however, must be revised to prepare physicians for the practice of medicine in today's economy. These changes should be fueled by the desire to produce as well trained a physician as possible, rather than a responsibility to graduate specific numbers of primary care physicians.