Health
Health experts worry about doctor shortage
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By WEI YU
Capital News Service
LANSING –- Michigan could face a more serious shortage of physicians by 2020, according to a report by the Michigan Center for Health Professions. The report predicts that the top three shortages will be cardiologists, orthopedic surgeons and general surgeons. Melanie Brim, deputy director of policy and planning at the Department of Community Health, said the gap of physicians is an overall problem that is compounded by the current distribution of professionals. “The state doesn’t have enough physicians in general, much less getting them evenly distributed into not only rural areas, but also into urban Detroit,” Brim said. For example, the ratio of residents to primary care doctors in Clinton County is 2,494:1, while the ratio in Ingham County is 762:1.