Free med school tuition won’t solve the shortage of primary care physicians
L ast month, nearly 40,000 medical students were accepted into residency programs on “Match Day.” Surrounded by family and friends, these soon-to-be-physicians opened envelopes revealing where they would begin their careers. This moment marked the culmination of a residency match process that requires medical students to make a series of choices and rankings about which medical specialty to practice and at which health system, along with the various lifestyle factors inherent in such a decision.
Each year, match data provide important signals into the desirability and workforce health of various medical specialties. For example, dermatology, anesthesiology, general surgery, and plastic surgery maintained their usual high fill rates, while more than 250 pediatrics positions and more than 600 family medicine positions went unfilled.
These results come as no surprise and are in line with a longstanding shortage of new physicians entering primary care specialties. To address these workforce gaps, medical schools are trying a new approach: tuition-free medical education.
