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Application and enrollments rates at medical colleges are steadily increasing, but the Association of American Medical Colleges said the number of graduates could surpass the number of spots available in residency training programs in the next two years.
AAMC released data Thursday about application and enrollment rates and called for Congress to increase federal support for residency training programs to avoid a projected physician shortage.
In 2006, the association called for a 30 percent increase in enrollment at medical colleges to avoid projected physician shortages. Medical colleges are on track to meet that goal by 2017, said Darrell Kirch, AAMC's president and CEO. This year, 14 medical colleges increased class sizes by more than 10 percent. Now, the number of medical students has exceeded 20,000 for the first time. About half of the growth is attributed to the opening of medical colleges at the University of California at Riverside, University of Arizona at Phoenix, Central Michigan University and Quinnipiac University.
“Medical schools are doing their job, but this will not alleviate the doctor shortage unless we have a corresponding increase in residency training positions,” Kirch said.
Currently, there are about 25,500 first-year residency positions, he said. But, it’s likely that the number of medical college graduates will surpass the number of residency positions available in the next two years as enrollment rates are increasing at both allopathic and osteopathic medical colleges.
The total number of applicants for medical colleges grew by 6.1 percent and the first-time enrollment rate increased by 2.8 percent in 2013, according to the report. The rate of increase in both applicants and first-time enrollees doubled in the past year. In 2012, the total number of applicants increased by 3.1 percent and the first-year enrollment rate increased 1.5 percent.
