key: cord-0848671-apgx5bfy
authors: Gates, Annesly; Mohiuddin, Sarah
title: Addressing the Mental Health Workforce Shortage Through the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2021
date: 2022-03-21
journal: Acad Psychiatry
DOI: 10.1007/s40596-022-01604-5
sha: 5f339c15b804a2322686a6f491acb584a045533a
doc_id: 848671
cord_uid: apgx5bfy

nan

To the Editor: In the spring of 2021, a bipartisan group of senators introduced the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2021 (S. 834). This bill would expand the number of residency positions funded by Medicare by 2,000 positions annually from 2023 through 2029. The bill aims to help alleviate the expanding physician shortage and promote the diversity of the medical workforce by providing funding for up to 75 additional positions at each eligible hospital [1] .

This bill was introduced in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the need for more physicians across the country. The lack of providers forced residents to be "redeployed" outside of their specialties, and some medical schools graduated their students early to address a much-needed labor shortage. Physicians from less impacted regions selflessly traveled to epicenters and retired docs donned white coats again, though with the addition of face shields, to relieve their overworked and exhausted colleagues. The pandemic has made it clear that our country is desperately lacking in healthcare providers. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), "The United States faces a projected physician shortage of between 54,100 and 139,000 doctors by 2033, and the COVID-19 pandemic has put additional serious strains on this workforce as it continues to respond to this national emergency" [2] .

To make matters worse, the pandemic has highlighted an increasingly urgent need-the shortage of mental health providers. While it is clear every medical specialty is facing severe shortages in the coming years, the lack of mental health providers was at a problematic level even prior to the pandemic. An additional report by the AAMC states "that in 2014, 45 states had fewer psychiatrists relative to their populations than they had in 2009, despite more than 43 million adults in the United States reporting a mental illness" [3] .

On October 19, 2021, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists, American Academy of Pediatrics and Children's Hospital Association declared another crisis: children's mental health. As the COVID-19 pandemic continues its scourge, the mental health needs of our country have reached the level of a national crisis. According to their declaration, "Between March and October 2020, the percentage of emergency department visits for children with mental health emergencies rose by 24 percent for children ages 5-11 and 31 percent for children ages 12-17. There was also a more than 50 percent increase in suspected suicide attempt emergency department visits among girls ages 12-17 in early 2021 as compared to the same period in 2019" [4] .

Emergency departments are not the only areas seeing this increase. A recent meta-analysis published in JAMA Pediatrics reported, "Pooled estimates obtained in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic suggest that 1 in 4 youth globally are experiencing clinically elevated depression symptoms, while 1 in 5 youth are experiencing clinically elevated anxiety symptoms. These pooled estimates, which increased over time, are double of prepandemic estimates" [5] .

Despite the tremendous need of our population for mental and physical healthcare, the Congress has expanded funding for residency only once in almost 25 years [2] . The current physician workforce cannot provide care to all those seeking it. Now is the time for the Congress to act. Now is the time to increase the physician workforce by expanding graduate medical education funding for Medicare. The mental healthcare needs of both the pediatric and adult population cannot wait.

Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2021, Senate, 117th Sess

AAMC Endorses Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act of 2021

Available from: aamc.org/news-insights/aamc-research-confirms-loomingphysician-shortage

Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists and Children's Hospitals Declare National Emergency in Children's Mental Health

Global prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents during COVID-19: A Meta-analysis

Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations