The Association of American Medical Colleges projects a primary care physician shortage of 12,000 to 31,000 by 2025. An aging population coupled with the coverage requirements of the Affordable Care Act is increasing overall demand for health care services. In addition, there are fewer solo family practitioners and many physicians are nearing retirement age. To help meet this challenge, Congress should pass the Family Health Care Accessibility Act to encourage health care professionals to volunteer at Community Health Centers.
On Oct. 7, 2015, Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Bob Casey (D-Pa) re-introduced the act to furnish liability protection for volunteer licensed professionals at Community Health Centers. Unfortunately, this initiative has not yet made it out of committee. In fact, this legislation has been previously proposed and passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2010, but has failed to become law. However, projected physician shortages and the need to provide medical care to underserved communities should prompt congressional action.
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