KMA unveils plan to overcome doctor shortage
By Laura Ungar
The Courier-Journal
http://www.courier-journal.com
The Kentucky Medical Association today unveiled plans to work with legislators to ease the state’s doctor shortage and widen access to health care across the state.
A study last year by the Kentucky Institute of Medicine showed the state needs almost 2,300 doctors to meet national standards.
“We’ve recognized for years that we’ve got a problem in Kentucky, and the Institute of Medicine study confirmed what we were saying,� said Dr. Preston Nunnelley, who is chairman of the legislative committee of the association representing the state’s physicians.
“Everything in this package increases the access to health care and the quality of health care for our citizens.�
The plan, called the Patient Physician Partnership, is designed to ease health insurance burdens on families and doctors, increase support for Kentucky medical schools and rural residency programs, support medical liability reform, increase Medicare and Medicaid funding for physician care and “resist allied health providers’ efforts to practice medicine.�
For more on this story, read tomorrow’s Courier-Journal.
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