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Monday, March 23, 2009 | 2 a.m.
For the number of people who live in and around Las Vegas, we're woefully short on doctors and health care workers in general. The map below shows hospital referral regions in the United States and how they compare. Our area had roughly 161 doctors per 100,000 people in 2006, significantly fewer than the national average of 202. For most specialization areas we're lacking as well. A notable difference: There are plenty of geriatric physicians, even though Nevada has a comparatively small percentage of seniors next to other states.
Does this survey include doctors serving at Nellis AFB and the VA? That would help with the numbers a bit.
Thank you Las Vegas Sun for publishing this information as a public service to Nevada's citizens.
Without changes in healthcare cost structure FIRST, THE BIGGIE, and qualitative growth in state funded doctor, nurse and dental programs SECOND, FOR GENERATING QUALITATIVE HOMEGROWN PROVIDERS, this shortage will continue.
NOW is the time for the State legislature to begin to address these problems when it assesses funding of higher education, with "reasonable, measured steps" given this year's economy.
Pointing to future single payer national healthcare in say, 10 years, is not by itself going to solve healthcare structure problems in Nevada, certainly urban Southern Nevada.
According to that 2006 map, it looks like Las Vegas isn't the only region short of physicians what does a similar distribution map of attorneys look like?
That does not take into consideration that many of the Vegas doctors are sub par and prone to spreading hepatitis, surgery requiring "retraining" or just the ones making money the old fashion way....selling drugs (scripts).