Utah Doctor Shortages Similar to Rest of Nation A recent report from the Salt Lake Tribune highlighted the continuing doctor shortages in the state of Utah. According to the Tribune, the problem is not as severe as it was seven years ago, but the better outlook may be short-lived. The fact is that demand is still out-pacing supply as more and more people are accessing the healthcare system. Much of it is attributed to an aging population and the early stages of the Affordable Care Act implementation. One of the hardest hit areas in Utah is that of internal medicine -- so much so that internal medicine jobs are consistently near the top of the list in terms of total openings in the state. The same trend can be seen across the country, perhaps due to the fact that internal medicine is on the lower end of the physician pay scale. Possible Effects of Federal Reform One of the big fears in terms of filling internal medicine jobs is the pending implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which, if not halted by the U.S. Supreme Court, goes fully into effect in 2014. If that happens, the requirement that all Americans obtain health insurance will result in new patients who have no primary care physicians flooding the healthcare system. Not only will the number of internal medicine jobs explode, but so will the gap between available doctors and physicians that need to be filled. This may be good in terms of pay and compensation; when demand goes up to unsustainable levels, compensation tends to rise proportionally. Yet at the same time, one wonders whether the system will be able to handle so many new patients all at once. It will be interesting to watch, if nothing else. Applying for a Job Right Now In the meantime, there certainly are plenty of internal medicine jobs for doctors interested in taking them. Staffing agencies are desperately trying to recruit locum tenens workers to fulfill their contracts with their customers. By the same token, all sorts of medical facilities -- from private practice groups to hospitals in large metropolitan areas -- are also trying to hire as many internal medicine professionals as possible. Any doctor who knows his stuff and can give a good interview should have no trouble finding a job. As an interesting side note, the Salt Lake Tribune report claims that most of the improvement they've seen in that state has been the result of a large national pool of doctors not necessarily associated or tied to the state of Utah. In other words, there are more out-of-state doctors choosing to work in Utah than there are native sons returning after medical school. Other states with similar populations are probably seeing the same trend. In the end, it doesn't matter where doctors come from as long as internal medicine jobs can be filled. In a worst-case scenario, we may eventually see states like Utah drawing from an international pool if that's what it takes.