Bill aims to reverse Nevada doctor shortage

By Amber Phillips

Friday, March 6, 2015 | 2:32 p.m.

Doctors who train in Las Vegas stay in Las Vegas.

That’s the hope of local, state and federal officials addressing Nevada’s doctor shortage, which is one of the worst in the country.

At the federal level, a bipartisan bill introduced last week by Rep. Joe Heck, R-Boulder City, and Rep. Kathy Castor of Florida would create a grant program to develop more residency positions in states like Nevada for doctors in training.

A lack of residency programs is one of the biggest reasons more doctors don’t set up practice in Nevada, according to doctors and researchers in the state.

The Association of American Medical Colleges found in a 2013 study that 47 percent of physicians stayed or returned to practice where they completed their residency.

Heck’s Creating Access to Residency Education Act — CARE — would set up a $25 million grant through The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to establish or add residency slots at teaching hospitals and graduate medical programs.

“We know physicians are significantly more likely to stay and practice medicine where they complete their residency program,” Heck said in a statement.

Heck is an osteopathic physician who specializes in emergency medicine. He worked at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center and University Medical Center after completing his residency in Philadelphia.

His bill’s prognosis in a polarized Congress isn’t clear.

But state officials seem to have a similar answer to the doctor shortage. A task force formed by Gov. Brian Sandoval in March 2014 suggested Nevada spend $12 million to expand its medical graduate programs.

Rep. Dina Titus, a Las Vegas Democrat, has worked to expand residency programs for doctors serving veterans. Her bill to do just that made it into a Veterans Affairs health care overhaul Congress passed last year.