The health care reforms present in the economic stimulus bills met with praise from Jeffrey P. Harris, MD, FACP and president of the American College of Physicians. He had some advice for House and Senate negotiators who are currently trying to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the economic stimulus package.

He is asking Congress to retain the $600 million in funding that is currently present in the House version of the bill for training of primary care physicians under the Title VII and National Health Services Corps programs. The Senate “regrettably left funding out of its bill” according to Dr. Harris. The country needs 16,000 physicians to even out care standards in underserved portions of the country, physicians that could be paid for with this funding. This funding is of particular interest to any hiring organization as it may facilitate hiring of these doctors where they are most needed.

He asked the government to retain $20 billion in funding to improve health care information and records and access to the same, with a longer wait time for adoption of these measures for smaller physician practices which was spelled out in the House bill but not the Senate bill.

He also notes that the House version of the bill contained higher subsidies to COBRA for lower-income unemployed persons (65%) over the Senate version of the bill (50%). He stated that persons who lost their jobs temporarily should also be included in such subsidy programs. “Some say that Congress must choose between short-term measures to stimulate the economy and longer-term health care reforms. This is a false choice,” said Dr. Harris. “We need to make sure that people who lose their jobs are able to obtain affordable coverage. We need to make the investments in health information technology, primary care, and effectiveness research that that will create jobs today – and make health care more affordable tomorrow.”

Heart disease statistics speak to the urgency of filling all cardiology jobs with the best physicians in the shortest time possible.   According to the American Heart Association’s (AHA) “Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics—2006 Update,” cardiovascular disease accounted for 37.3% of all deaths in 2003 and was an underlying or contributing cause of death for about 58% of all deaths that year.

Cardiologists provide health care to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and conditions of the heart and cardiovascular system, including the arteries. Because the field of cardiology encompasses so many different types of diseases and procedures, there are many different types of cardiology one may choose to practice depending on his or her interests and skill sets, and the type of work they’d like to do.

In his 2004 AHA article “Cardiology’s Workforce Shortage” former president of the American College of Cardiology, Dr. W. Bruce Fye, said that the “cardiovascular disease burden in the United States is great and growing…demographers warn that we are confronting an expanding population of older Americans that will require much more cardiovascular care.”

As baby boomers age, the statistics on cardiovascular disease and related deaths could get worse before medical science and the trend toward healthier lifestyles catch up. The 2000 U.S. Census indicated the age-60-plus population will have quadrupled by 2010. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that the population 75 age years and older will exceed the population 65 to 74 years old by 2040. According to the CDC report Health, United States, 2004, about 12%, or 1 in 8 Americans, will be age 75 or older by the year 2050.

Despite the growing need for cardiologists, data from the American Medical Association indicates that approximately 26,535 members list cardiology as their primary specialty, with only 21,557 of these members in office- or hospital-based practice. On average approximately 705 new cardiologists transitioned into cardiology jobs annually between 2000-2006.

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