A Monograph on Physician Supply

For several decades, Dr. Ginzberg, a noted health economist, has provided continuing and valuable assessments of the variations and trends in health manpower. His current studies explore the potential mismatch between the numbers of physicians being trained in the United States and the anticipated need for their services. His, and other, studies have concluded that the nation now has a physician surplus of about 20 percent, or about 150,000 of the 750,000 practicing physicians, with more being trained each year. Compounding the basic problem of too many physicians, the move to train more generalists that started early in the 90s seems to have been short-lived while the trend to training of more specialists appears to be continuing.

In this new effort, Dr. Ginzberg will direct a staff of young social scientists, headed by senior economics research associate Panos Minogiannis. This group will analyze these and related trends in health manpower and publish their findings in a monograph, along with recommendations for correcting those imbalances that are identified.