Just five years ago, newly minted doctors looking for jobs in a desirable city had to get in line. Doctors hoping to score work in cosmopolitan Los Angeles, for example, often found themselves commuting hours to faraway locales. That has dramatically changed. But why?
The American public for years paid physicians millions of dollars in Medicare bonuses to treat the medically needy. Here's how one reporter told that story.
Over the weekend, I took a long look at what the health-reform law does to address a looming shortage of primary care doctors. And the short answer is: Not much.
Kansas City Star reporter Alan Bavley was just doing his job. In response to his watchdog stories on medical malpractice, federal officials yanked public portions of a national doctor database offline and threatened him with fines. Now, journalists are pushing back.
Gregory D. Stevens is an assistant professor of community health at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. Stevens is co-author of "Vulnerable Populations in the United States," published by Jossey-Bass in November 2004. "Vulnerable Populations" offers in-depth data and analysis on questions such as access to care, quality of care and health status.
