But changing the way medical schools educate doctors is not going to be easy. The vast majority of the nation's 126 medical schools are designed to produce specialists. Although some medical schools are making an attempt to revamp their curricula, none of these reforms promise a quick solution to the primary care shortage. The Wall Street Journal quotes a University of Wisconsin study which says that even if half of all the U.S. medical school graduates choose general medicine beginning in 1995, the work force won't be evenly split between generalists and specialists until 2040. The lack of sufficient primary care providers will make the transition from our current system of health care to managed care much more difficult.
Primary care is the cornerstone of all managed care systems.
Furthermore, in countries like Canada and Germany, the ratio of primary care physicians to specialists is far higher than here. There now exists a huge vacuum in primary care in the United States. Because nature abhors vacuums, the opportunity exists for chiropractic to move in and help to alleviate the shortage of primary health care providers. Make no mistake about it, other providers will also move into this crucial role. In fact, it is already happening.