Ohio Academy of Family Physicians President Don Mack, MD, represented the Academy at the August 7 morning meeting of the Ohio Primary Care Physician Workforce Collaborative. That meeting was followed by an afternoon meeting at the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) with OHA President and CEO Mike Abrams and Paul Hicks, MD, OHA vice president of clinical services and physician affairs. OAFP Executive Vice President Ann Spicer represented the OAFP at that meeting. Collaborative representatives in attendance briefed OHA officials on why primary care physician workforce shortages are important to their 237 member hospitals.
The mission of the Ohio Primary Care Physician Workforce Collaborative is to ensure an adequate supply and distribution of primary care physicians in Ohio who are trained to provide comprehensive, continuous primary care using the Advanced Primary Care model.
During the morning meeting, collaborative members reviewed a fifty-state crosswalk on legislative and Medicaid initiatives relative to primary care physician workforce. The crosswalk, prepared by a summer intern at the Ohio Association of Community Health Centers, revealed that most states have a state-structured commission to periodically reassess access and workforce needs.
Attendees were told the State Medical Board’s e-licensure survey should be working by the fall, which will provide much-needed workforce data.
The group also discussed Dr. Pat Ecklar’s analysis of 2018 Match results as they pertain to primary care physician workforce. The Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Northeast Ohio Medical University, and the Wright State University are the state leaders in primary care physician production with the University of Cincinnati showing significant increases in that regard.
The Collaborative will next reach out to the gubernatorial campaigns of Richard Cordray and Mike DeWine to inform them as to workforce issues and the work of the collaborative.
The next meeting of the Collaborative will be held Tuesday, September 4. Immediately preceding that meeting, the Collaborative will be meeting with the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association.