More residency programs could solve growing doctor shortage in New Jersey, officials say

New Jersey could be short 2,500 to 2,800 doctors by next year, and the U.S. could have a deficiency of nearly 120,000 physicians by 2030, the result of a growing, aging population, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.

One solution is to raise the number of training positions available for new physicians. A bill that Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who represents New Jersey's 5th District, unveiled Monday would lift 22-year-old caps on the number of graduate medical education training programs, known as residencies.

More residency slots would help the state retain the doctors it trains. They are “a formative time” for new doctors, who often stay in the communities where they train, said Democratic New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez, who pledged to support the bill in the Senate.

“A healthy nation builds its medical fleet,” said Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., who represents New Jersey's 9th District. “I can’t think of a better way to spend taxpayers’ money.”

Particularly critical in New Jersey is a need for family practice, pediatric and internal medicine physicians. Just 30 percent of the state’s active physicians practice in these areas, while 70 percent are specialists, according to the AAMC.

“We really struggle, particularly in retaining primary care” doctors, said Holy Name Chief Medical Officer Adam Jarrett. He said that ratio should be flipped.

Around 45 percent of physicians who completed their residencies in New Jersey stayed in the state, according to a 2017 AAMC report.

New Jersey ranks 29th nationally for retaining doctors after their graduate medical education, and the state’s residency programs contribute about one-third of its total physician workforce.

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New Jersey isn’t lacking in medical graduates. The state is home to five medical schools, including the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University, which opened in 2017 with a similar goal of combating New Jersey’s physician shortage.

The current caps on residency training slots are a roadblock for institutions such as Teaneck’s Holy Name Medical Center, which aims to restart its residency program that shut down in the late 1990s.

Holy Name had six residents in 1996, just before its program closed and the caps under Medicare were enacted. The caps are frozen, meaning Holy Name could open only six resident positions in its new program more than 20 years later.

“If Holy Name didn’t have any residents in 1996, we would be free and unencumbered to start the largest program we would want and get paid for it,” said Holy Name Medical Center President Michael Maron. "Some of our neighboring hospitals who had zero in ’96 have started large programs unencumbered, getting paid for it. To us, it’s an inequity.”

Maron added that Holy Name could have more than 100 residents if the caps are eased.

A similar bill introduced last year failed. Menendez said lawmakers may attach the new effort to Medicare legislation, and that the Democratic majority in the House would increase its chances of passing.