Mississippi is home to fewer doctors per capita than the national average, according to an ongoing study.
Jeralynn Crossman, a medical sociologist at Mississippi State University, is participating in a study to find out how to increase the state’s physician labor force.
Nationally, there are three physicians for every thousand residents. In the state of Mississippi, there are two physicians for every one thousand residents.
“As of July 2002, there were 4,464 active physicians in the state. More than 90 percent of the active physicians are Caucasian and more than 90 percent are male. Another statistic says that more than half of the active physicians practice in only four urban areas,” Crossman said.
Dr. Steve Parvin, incoming president of the Mississippi Medical Association said the shortage is becoming very serious very quickly.
“I think the physician labor force is at a crisis level. The state of Mississippi has fewer physicians per patients than every state except North Dakota,” Parvin said.
Only 20 percent and 12 percent practice in Hines County and the Delta respectively, Crossman said.
Crossman also said “Almost half of the active physicians graduated from the University of Mississippi. The state has done a good job of keeping state-trained physicians in the state.”
More than half the active physicians consider early retirement or moving their practice out of state. One-third the population in the state live in counties without physicians; more than 2 million, 75 percent, live in counties that lack a sufficient amount of primary care physicians.
“The overall opinion of the MSMA is that every community, except large cities like Jackson, are in a crisis,” Parvin said. “Every physician that leaves early is a catastrophe because it increases the workload of the physicians still available and affects the access to healthcare.”
“A total of about six recommendations have been made in respect to the shortage. The most important, in my opinion, is the need for an essential database of Mississippi physicians. The database would track each physician longitudinally every year,” Crossman said.
Other suggestions include creating programs to retain the physicians already practicing in the state and finding out whether students who go out of state for medical school return to Mississippi or go elsewhere.
“MSU is not a direct provider of care, but the role MSU plays is that of an independent and objective source of research and information,” said Arthur Cosby, director of both the Social Science Research Center and Mississippi Health Policy Research Center.
“I don’t know if there is a direct impact on MSU, but it is a topic of growing interest. There are several students working with Mr. Cosby and myself. Starkville, however, is in good shape compared to some other places,” Crossman said.