Future OF MeDIcINe A Match Day for Team Oregon John Turner OHSu Med 15, OMA member MAtch dAY thiS YeAr was March 20, 2015. A day of incredible excitement and anticipation. A day that medical students have worked toward throughout their undergraduate studies, pre-clinical courses, USMLE exams, and clinical rotations. It’s like the NFl Draft of medicine. We invest years in our education, develop our skills and nurture the compassion that we have for the care of humanity. We fly around the country along the interview trail. And once the rank lists are in, we wait until the algorithm runs and determines our destiny. We wait to open that envelope. The most important piece of mail we’ve ever received. Increasingly there is no envelope to open after 20+ years of school and mounds of student loans. The Match is more competitive than ever due to a collision of increasing numbers of M.D. and D.O. graduates, the number of international applicants, and limited residency slots. In 2013, 528 U.S. M.D. graduates did not have a residency after the Match and supplemental offer program. It is projected that in 2015, the number of US medical school graduates will continue to exceed the number of residency slots.1 The implementation of the Affordable Care Act has significantly increased the number of people with insurance, which many think may lead to increases in utilization, especially in primary care clinics for chronic disease management. Nationally, medical schools have increased the number of entering students by more than 25 percent since 2002. Similarly, Oregon has significantly increased its number of medical students in the last decade and now has two medical schools. However, across the country, the number of residencies has not kept pace with the number of new graduates. This is terrifying! Graduates with years of effort invested and $250k in debt may be forced to find another career. Most importantly, however, residency funding determines where physicians train and where many tend to stay and practice. According to the AAMC, 70 percent of physicians who completed school and GME in Oregon stayed here. And where a student grows up and receives their training directly correlates to an increased likelihood of choosing primary care, a rural or underserved career. The future of medicine depends on a successful Match. A Match that can successfully draft the future physicians of Team Oregon to care for all her people, from the Rogue Valley to the Willamette Valley, from Bandon to Baker. 1. American Medical Association GME Funding Key to Quality Care 2013 w ww.TheOMA.org Spring 2015 23
OMA Spring 2015 Magazine
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