Health Professionals for the South: Supply and Cost Issues Needing State Attention

Health professions education represents one of the South's major successes, but because of the implications of a larger supply of health professionals and the increasing costs of both health care services and the education of health professionals, it also represents one of the major challenges before state policymakers. State policymakers will be facing three major problems in the coming years: a possible oversupply of health professionals; rapidly increasing costs of health care services; and continuing problems of getting personnel to geographic areas, subspecialties, and practice settings that need them. Six strategies are suggested to solve these problems; (1) create new health professions education programs only where there is clear and compelling evidence of need that cannot be met otherwise; (2) implement coordinated strategies to address the specific problem of distribution; (3) make maximum use of existing programs through interinstitutional and interstate agreements; (4) cut back on class sizes and close some training programs; (5) raise tuition for students in those professions that are expected to be surplus; and (6) develop the capacity to analyze the financing and costing of health professions education. It is essential that each state know the current status of its own health professions training programs within its health care delivery system. Only after analysis of the state's trends and needs can rational action be taken to implement specific strategies. (KC)