Tool Aims at Tracking Doc Shortage

The Physicians Foundation has awarded a two-year $750K grant to aid in the development of a Web-based projection model that will be designed to be continually updated with new data to track ongoing physician workforce needs across the country. The nonprofit organization awarded the grant to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in July.

With the introduction of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which seeks to extend insurance to more than 30 million people, there is expected to be a significant influx of new patients. The grant is aimed at giving policymakers and health providers a free resource to access real-time data on the locations where physician shortages are most problematic at the local, state and national levels...