FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - June 8, 1999
Contact: Tim Clarke, Jr., AMSA Director of Public Relations
Daytime Phone: (703) 620-6600, ext. 207

Reston, VA - The nation's medical schools are not turning out enough primary care physicians, says the American Medical Student Association (AMSA), the nation's largest, independent medical student organization. The shortage has contributed to the problem of America's 43 million uninsured citizens and exacerbated a crisis in the delivery of quality care to underserved communities. In response, AMSA recently announced their plans for the 1999 'National Primary Care Week,' with support from the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions, Division of Medicine. AMSA will develop and lead the week-long program that will be held at nearly every medical school in the country during the week of September 27th to October 1st, 1999. AMSA's National Primary Care Week (NPCW) will dedicate itself to the promotion of primary care as an important and legitimate specialty for health profession students to consider as they complete their training.

"Primary care physicians bring medicine to populations who don't have access to basic health services, and their importance is unquestioned," said Paul Wright, executive director of the AMSA Foundation. But there is no question that the nation's medical schools are not meeting expectations to train an appropriate number of generalists, or primary care doctors, to handle the future needs of the American public. For the first time this decade, the percentage of US graduating seniors entering primary care residencies decreased. The recommendation of the Council of Graduate Medical Education (COGME) in 1994 was for a physician workforce of 50/50 - 50% primary care doctors and 50% specialists. In 1997-1998, according to COGME data, there were too few generalists residents beginning their training - 7% less than target recommendations. Considering the vast oversupply of specialty physicians - 41% more than recommended by COGME - we begin to realize the further need for programs such as AMSA's National Primary Care Week.

Primary care physicians play one of the most vital roles in modern medicine today. Unlike specialists, primary care physicians provide more preventive health-care services and see patients on a regular schedule, in an effort to maintain long-term relationships and quality of care. Traditionally, primary care physicians offer the most cost-effective health care available - a crucial factor to the millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans. Studies have shown that carefully coordinated efforts to downsize specialty physicians and increase the number of primary care doctors will dramatically decrease the overwhelming number of Americans who go without access to quality health care every year. NPCW is designed to remind us that it is still necessary to prepare more generalists to enter medicine.

NPCW aims to involve more interdisciplinary participation than any past primary care initiative. AMSA has asked each medical school to nominate one student leader. In addition, AMSA is actively recruiting students of other health professions - physician assistants, nurse practitioners, nurse-midwives, primary-care podiatrists, social workers and general dentists - to collaborate on the project by involving their schools and developing activities for the week-long event.

NPCW has received the strong support of the following organizations, which are serving in an advisory capacity to NPCW: Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) network, American Academy of Family Physicians, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Division of Nursing, Division of Medicine, American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, the Society for General Internal Medicine, the Primary Care Fellowship Society, and the National Health Service Corps.

Any health profession student interested in assuming a leadership role should contact Kristen Goliber, NPCW Project Coordinator, at 703/620-6600, ext. 248.