The United States has been combating a physician scarcity for a couple of years. The COVID-19 pandemic uncovered simply how giant the downside is. Medical establishments were caution that there generally is a scarcity of up to 124,000 number one care physicians and uniqueness care docs national inside a decade, in accordance to analysis by means of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
There is already a scarcity in some puts in the U.S., with rural spaces disproportionately affected. If folks residing in rural communities, minorities, and the ones and not using a medical health insurance, had the similar get right of entry to to hospital treatment as others have, the nation would wish an extra 180,400 docs to meet call for. (These are the states where the most people don’t have health insurance.)
According to the 2021 State Physician Workforce Data Report from the Association of American Medical Colleges, there are 940,254 physicians actively practising in the United States. Adjusting for inhabitants the usage of information from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2021 American Community Survey, this comes out to 283.3 for each and every 100,000 folks. And this quantity varies significantly by means of state.
In Colorado, there are 16,956 energetic physicians, or 291.7 for each and every 100,000 folks, the 18th maximum amongst states.
Other than a low provide of docs, loss of medical health insurance will also be any other barrier to getting access to care. An estimated 8.0% of Colorado citizens are uninsured, the twenty second maximum amongst states. Meanwhile, 13.7% of adults throughout the state document being in lower than optimum well being, when compared to 17.1% of adults national.
Data on the proportion of adults reporting truthful or deficient well being is from the 2022 County Health Rankings & Roadmaps program of the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. Data on the proportion of the inhabitants with out medical health insurance got here from the 2021 ACS and are one-year estimates.
| Rank | State | Doctors consistent with 100,000 folks | Total mumber of energetic physicians | Adults in truthful or deficient well being (%) | Uninsured price (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Idaho | 184.3 | 3,504 | 15.1 | 8.8 |
| 2 | Mississippi | 198.5 | 5,857 | 22.0 | 11.9 |
| 3 | Oklahoma | 208.0 | 8,293 | 21.3 | 13.8 |
| 4 | Wyoming | 211.6 | 1,225 | 15.7 | 12.2 |
| 5 | Nevada | 214.1 | 6,731 | 20.1 | 11.6 |
| 6 | Arkansas | 214.8 | 6,500 | 24.1 | 9.2 |
| 7 | Utah | 215.6 | 7,198 | 14.8 | 9.0 |
| 8 | Alabama | 217.9 | 10,983 | 21.4 | 9.9 |
| 9 | Iowa | 221.0 | 7,056 | 13.6 | 4.8 |
| 10 | Texas | 227.5 | 67,182 | 20.9 | 18.0 |
| 11 | Georgia | 232.2 | 25,072 | 19.3 | 12.6 |
| 12 | Kentucky | 233.5 | 10,528 | 22.0 | 5.7 |
| 13 | Indiana | 233.9 | 15,918 | 18.9 | 7.5 |
| 14 | Kansas | 234.2 | 6,874 | 17.1 | 9.2 |
| 15 | South Carolina | 235.0 | 12,197 | 17.8 | 10.0 |
| 16 | North Dakota | 235.6 | 1,826 | 13.3 | 7.9 |
| 17 | Nebraska | 245.5 | 4,820 | 13.9 | 7.1 |
| 18 | South Dakota | 247.3 | 2,214 | 15.1 | 9.5 |
| 19 | New Mexico | 249.0 | 5,269 | 20.0 | 10.0 |
| 20 | Montana | 249.0 | 2,750 | 14.4 | 8.2 |
| 21 | Arizona | 252.1 | 18,343 | 18.3 | 10.7 |
| 22 | Tennessee | 253.6 | 17,687 | 20.3 | 10.0 |
| 23 | North Carolina | 262.1 | 27,650 | 18.5 | 10.4 |
| 24 | Virginia | 264.7 | 22,874 | 16.1 | 6.8 |
| 25 | Florida | 270.1 | 58,822 | 17.8 | 12.1 |
| 26 | Wisconsin | 271.0 | 15,975 | 15.0 | 5.4 |
| 27 | Louisiana | 271.6 | 12,557 | 21.7 | 7.6 |
| 28 | West Virginia | 275.6 | 4,914 | 24.3 | 6.1 |
| 29 | Washington | 280.8 | 21,731 | 15.7 | 6.4 |
| 30 | Delaware | 284.0 | 2,850 | 18.0 | 5.7 |
| 31 | Alaska | 286.8 | 2,101 | 15.7 | 11.4 |
| 32 | California | 289.8 | 113,718 | 17.8 | 7.0 |
| 33 | Colorado | 291.7 | 16,956 | 13.7 | 8.0 |
| 34 | Illinois | 293.0 | 37,122 | 17.1 | 7.0 |
| 35 | Missouri | 296.6 | 18,297 | 17.6 | 9.4 |
| 36 | Michigan | 298.9 | 30,040 | 18.2 | 5.0 |
| 37 | Ohio | 299.9 | 35,333 | 18.1 | 6.5 |
| 38 | New Jersey | 300.3 | 27,832 | 15.5 | 7.2 |
| 39 | Minnesota | 308.7 | 17,617 | 13.3 | 4.5 |
| 40 | Oregon | 309.2 | 13,127 | 17.4 | 6.1 |
| 41 | Hawaii | 316.1 | 4,557 | 15.3 | 3.9 |
| 42 | New Hampshire | 316.1 | 4,391 | 14.3 | 5.1 |
| 43 | Pennsylvania | 324.4 | 42,051 | 17.6 | 5.5 |
| 44 | Maine | 324.9 | 4,459 | 17.2 | 5.7 |
| 45 | Connecticut | 359.9 | 12,977 | 14.3 | 5.2 |
| 46 | Rhode Island | 370.8 | 4,063 | 16.3 | 4.3 |
| 47 | Vermont | 373.3 | 2,410 | 12.6 | 3.7 |
| 48 | New York | 381.9 | 75,749 | 16.4 | 5.2 |
| 49 | Maryland | 385.9 | 23,791 | 14.0 | 6.1 |
| 50 | Massachusetts | 459.8 | 32,116 | 13.4 | 2.5 |
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