The effect of federal grants on medical schools' production of primary care physicians.
R A Rosenblatt,
M E Whitcomb,
T J Cullen,
D M Lishner and
L G Hart
Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle 98195.
OBJECTIVES. Title VII of the Health Professions EducationalAssistance Act of 1976 was created to encourage the productionof primary care physicians. This study explored recent trendsin the proportion of US medical school graduates entering primarycare in relationship to Title VII funding. METHODS. The AmericanMedical Association Physician Masterfile was used to determinethe specialty choice of all students graduating from Americanmedical schools between 1960 and 1985. RESULTS. The proportionof graduates entering primary care rose from 19.7% in 1967 to31.1% in 1976 and remained stable for the subsequent decade.The increase occurred before implementation of Title VII. Rural,state-owned medical schools with departments of family medicinetend to produce a greater proportion of primary care physiciansthan urban private schools without family medicine departments.CONCLUSIONS. The values of American medical schools and thereward structure of American medical practice favor the productionof specialists over primary care physicians. Although TitleVII helped to encourage and sustain the development of primarycare educational programs at both the medical student and graduatelevels, an increase in the proportion of primary care physicianswill require fundamental changes.
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