Physician shortage & Matching Market
Physicians in training play a huge role in the U.S. healthcare system. However, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) predict there will be a shortage of 40,000-100,000 physicians by 2030. This is because the number of newly trained physicians in the U.S. is determined by the number of residency positions available, not the number of graduating medical students. There are roughly three times as many people applying to medical schools per available position. In order to determine who goes where in terms of residency training, the National Matching Program takes control. This program establishes a matching market where they bring together graduated medical students and residency positions, in hopes to find perfect matching. Each student ranks their favorite residency programs, essentially providing their valuations for each position. The residency programs do the same, ranking student applicants. A computer algorithm then assigns students to a residency program; however, there is never perfect matching since there are not enough positions available. Even though almost all U.S medical students receive a match (93%), not all get his or her top choice.
The AAMC recommended increasing the capacity of medical schools, as well as opening new schools to address the future shortage of physicians. If the healthcare system can correspondingly increase the number of residency positions to equal the number of applicants then there is a higher chance of finding a perfect matching or an optimal assignment based on their set of valuations. By having more medical students match residency positions it will decrease the opportunity of a physicians shortage and increase use of the matching market.