OAFP Nominates Dr. McMaster for ODHE Health Care Workforce Preparation Task Force

On January 8, the Ohio Academy of Family Physicians nominated OAFP President Anna McMaster, MD, of Liberty Center, OH, for appointment to the Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) Health Care Workforce Preparation Task Force, a group created by the last state budget bill to identify preliminary challenges facing the Ohio health care workforce. The identification of these challenges and corresponding recommendations to address them will form the foundation of a report issued to the Governor, the Speaker, and Minority Leader of the Ohio House of Representatives and the President and Minority leader of the Senate. The initial report is due in March 2020.

ODHE Chancellor Randy Gardner invited the OAFP to nominate a representative for consideration. Chancellor Gardner intends to continue convening members of the task force who wish to continue to work on securing Ohio’s health care workforce.

In nominating Dr. McMaster, the OAFP pointed out that robust evidence shows that health systems with a primary care orientation have superior patient outcomes, fewer inequities, and lower costs and as a result. Due to an aging, growing, and increasingly insured population, addressing both physician shortages and geographic maldistribution of primary care physicians on the both the state and federal levels is vitally important. The need for an 8% increase (681 additional primary care physicians) by 2030 is projected. The Graham Center for Public Policy Studies recommends that policymakers in Ohio should consider strategies to bolster the primary care pipeline including reimbursement reform, dedicated funding for primary care graduate medical education (GME), increased funding for primary care training, and medical school debt relief.

Dr. McMaster has been practicing in her home county (Henry) for 20 years. She currently practices at Mercy Health – Henry County Family Physicians in Napoleon, OH.