LIHUE — The gap between supply and demand of medical doctors in Hawaii is only going to widen in the next few years, according to University of Hawaii researchers. “Our state is an estimated 747 physicians short of the number
LIHUE — The gap between supply and demand of medical doctors in Hawaii is only going to widen in the next few years, according to University of Hawaii researchers.
“Our state is an estimated 747 physicians short of the number we should have currently treating patients, based on Hawaii’s population,” UH reports. There are 2,894 physicians practicing in the state.
On Kauai, there are 130 doctors, while the current need on the island is 199 doctors, according to UH. Three years ago, Kauai had 136 doctors, and the demand was lower, 183.
Reg Baker, executive vice president of the Hawaii Medical Assurance Association, said Thursday at the 15th annual Governor’s Lunch on Kauai that the state is leading the nation regarding compliance to President Barack Obama’s Affordable Health Care Act.
It was Gov. Neil Abercrombie, he said, who “put the wheels in motion” to make it happen. But Baker wasn’t too optimistic about the future of health care. He too said that in the next few years, this physician shortage will likely double.
The statewide shortage, which a year ago was 632 doctors, will keep increasing and average of about 110 doctors each year, according to UH.
On the Big Island the supply is 336, while the demand is 530; On Maui the supply is 301 and the demand is 418; and on Oahu the supply is 2,127 and the demand is 2,494.
A third of Hawaii’s physicians are 55 or older, nearing retirement. By 2020, the doctor deficit in the state is expected to increase to 1,448, according to the UH report.
Another source at UH put the doctors shortage in the state at 1,504 in seven years from now, with 2,550 practicing doctors in 2010, and a demand of 4,065.
“Hawaii’s population as a whole is aging at one of the highest rates in the nation, which means the doctor deficit is increasing at the same time that patients’ need for health care from age-related illnesses will become more acute,” UH states.
Friday, UH sent a press release stating the annual Best Doctors list — determined by doctors themselves — overwhelmingly choose UH graduates or faculty for a doctor in their specialty who they would refer a family member to in case of need.
“Nearly 80 percent of the physicians identified as Hawaii’s ‘Best Doctors’ for 2013 are alumni and/or faculty of the UH Manoa John A. Burns School of Medicine,” UH states.
JABSOM Dean Jerris Hedges said the significance for Hawaii is that UH medical school “truly is the single most important contributor” to Hawaii’s physician workforce.
In an earlier report in April, Hedges said the school is “overwhelmingly” the major source of doctors in the state, both through education of MD students — 90 percent of whom are Hawaii residents — and UH’s residency programs, where faculty oversee training of more than 240 physicians while they work to obtain licensure or board certification.
“Meeting the crisis in the Hawaii health care workforce is going to have to be a local solution,” Hedges said. “We are grateful for the foresight of Hawaii’s leaders who nearly 50 years ago established Hawaii’s medical school and continue to support us.”
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
