Efforts to attract physicians to underserved areas aren’t working

(Illustration by Michael S. Helfenbein) A federal program aimed at attracting physicians to areas with critical shortages has not improved mortality rates or physician density, a new Yale study finds. A federal program created to attract physicians to medically underserved areas of the United States has not achieved this intended effect or reduced mortality rates in these regions, a new Yale study finds. The researchers say new approaches may be needed to address health care disparities across the country. The findings were published Nov. 6 in the journal Health Affairs. Previous research has shown that people tend to seek out health care within their own community; the farther people have to travel to access that care, the less likely they-ll do it. So the lack of adequate numbers of physicians - an issue that affects more than 40 million Americans - can contribute to health care access disparities; areas with shortages of health care professionals, studies show, tend to have higher mortality rates than regions that do not.