Legislation sponsored by Senator Robert Singer (R-30) which would require the Commissioner of Health and Senior Services to convene a planning summit to examine an expected shortage of physicians practicing in New Jersey has been approved by the Senate Health, Human Services & Senior Citizens Committee.
“A recently completed report predicts that within the next decade, New Jersey will face a shortage of thousands of physicians practicing in family care and important specialties,” said Singer. “Unless we get to work now to prevent that shortage, many New Jerseyans may soon find themselves without doctors or unable to obtain appointments or treatments when they need them.”
Singer’s legislation, S-173, was introduced in response to a report issued by the Physician Workforce Policy Task Force in 2010 which predicts a shortfall of nearly 3,000 doctors in the Garden State by 2020, including 1,000 primary care physicians and 1,800 specialists.
The legislation seeks to address that shortage by requiring the Commissioner of Health and Senior services to convene a strategic planning summit comprised of relevant State agencies, boards and key stakeholders, including representatives of medical schools and teaching hospitals in the state.
The summit would be charged with analyzing the state’s physician workforce supply, discussing the redistribution or expansion of residency slots to address shortages in the state and investigating ways to include more community hospitals in resident rotations in family medicine, internal medicine and pediatric medicine.
“The summit proposed by this legislation would bring together experts from across the state to determine the most effective way to prevent or minimize the looming doctor shortage,” added Singer. “Once we have their recommendations, we will be able create and enact a plan to ensure that New Jersey trains and retains enough doctors to meet all of our residents’ needs.”
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