A surgeon shortage creates challenges in rural communities

For Americans in rural communities, getting adequate health treatment has often been an uphill battle. Now, new research shows just how dire the state of healthcare is in these areas, particularly because of a dearth of surgeons in places across the United States.

How bad is the surgeon shortage?

Currently, 1,180 out of 3,144 counties in the United States — more than a third — have no general surgeon, and at least 951 of them “have no surgeon in any of 12 surgical specialties,” according to a recent report from the American College of Surgeons (ACS). These shortages represent “15.1 million people lacking access to surgical care.” At least 434 rural hospitals are also in counties “with no identified full-time surgeon.”

Surgeon supply across all specialties was significantly varied and was “12 times higher in some regions than others,” according to the ACS. Research shows that the paucity of surgeons is likely to increase during the coming years. The U.S. is “projected to be short nearly 28,000 surgeons by 2038, with the workforce meeting just 84.3% of national need,” according to a separate ACS study. The greatest gaps are expected to be in “vascular surgery, ophthalmology, thoracic surgery and plastic surgery.”

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What has the shortage’s effect been?

Rural communities can be harmed in various ways. While many people “assume that surgeons primarily perform elective procedures, many surgeons in rural communities serve multiple roles,” Dr. Thomas Tsai, the medical director for health policy research at the ACS and the study’s co-author, told Time. “Access to surgeons is the keystone for the broader rural healthcare ecosystem.”

Part of the problem is that “training isn’t keeping pace with demand, especially as the country ages and needs more medical procedures,” Tsai told Time. Bringing in more surgeons is crucial because the “average American may undergo as many as 20 diagnostic and therapeutic procedures over the course of their life, factoring in minor procedures such as endoscopies to major operations,” Tsai told the industry outlet Fierce Healthcare. The “ability to provide innovative surgical care is a feature and not a flaw of the U.S. healthcare system,” and Americans “need the resources to both expand the supply of surgeons in the U.S., and to sustain viable surgical practices” in rural areas.