The Congress and Health Manpower: A Legislative Morass

To correct deficiencies in physicians' services, chiefly related to geographic maldistribution and overspecialization, numerous bills have been introduced in both the House and the Senate. These bills would increase the annual number of medical graduates, would mandate service in areas defined as lacking in physicians, and would promote the training of primary-care physicians as opposed to more specialized training. The number of foreign medical graduates would also be restricted. Almost all this legislation potentially may diminish the quality of medical education without substantially affecting the provision of health service. Recently introduced legislation (HR 3279), however, seems to deal more rationally with the problems of health manpower.