Where Have All the Primary Care Applicants Gone?

Abstract

NOT all aspects of the 1960s can be viewed with nostalgia. Nevertheless, many people have such feelings for the deep social concern of the times. During the 1960s Congress implemented Medicare and Medicaid and also initiated primary care programs for underserved rural and inner-city populations. Convictions about a shortage of physicians led first to an expansion in the size of medical school classes and then to a recognition that more primary care physicians were needed. With state and federal support, residency training in family practice expanded rapidly during the 1970s,1 followed by the introduction of primary care tracks in internal . . .