Finding adequate medical care is often a challenge. Personal injury victims have a particularly difficult time finding medical doctors who will treat them because the bills may go unpaid until a settlement is reached. Complicating this task is the fact that America is facing a serious physician shortage nationwide. The Association of American Medical Colleges ("AAMC") attributes this shortage to our aging population and the retirement of older physicians. It takes roughly 10 years to train a doctor and an AAMC study estimates that we will experience a shortage of 42,600 to 121,300 physicians by 2030.
--ARKANSAS DOCTOR SHORTAGE--
Arkansas is not immune to this impending problem. In fact, we are one of the states hardest hit by it. We are 47th in the nation for active primary care physicians per 100,000 Arkansans. The AAMC Arkansas Physician Workforce Profile for 2017 states that Arkansas has 251 active emergency medicine physicians - that is one physician for every 11,905 Arkansans. What's worse is that 30.3% of those ER doctors are aged 60 or older.
--MEDICAL MALPRACTICE--
While I recognize that we have competent, caring doctors in Arkansas, the physician shortage puts an added burden on our state health care system. Doctors are forced to see more patients than time actually allows. This often leads to oversights such as misdiagnoses (particularly in emergency rooms) and poor patient care. These oversights can be deadly. If you have been a victim of medical malpractice in Arkansas, call me at Sexton & Sanders Law Firm - We're Here For You!
--CALL 479.782.3434 - ASK FOR JACKIE--
*Want to read more statistics about our dangerous doctor shortage? Check out additional data here:
https://www.aamc.org/download/484516/data/arkansasprofile.pdf