LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Nevada, home to more than 3 million people and the world-renowned entertainment capital, is facing a critical shortage of primary care doctors.
This shortage is impacting the quality of healthcare and extending wait times for patients across Southern Nevada. I wanted to take a closer look at the factors contributing to this challenge and what it means for our community.
Trisha Moosman shared with me the difficulties she faces when trying to schedule timely medical appointments.
"It's just really hard," she said. "It's hard to find a specialist, period."
She explains her son Benjamin's extensive medical needs and how her daughter Lauren assists with his care.
"He has developmental delays, various syndromes, and autism," Moosman said.
Lauren says although her brother is 18, Benjamin functions at the level of a 4-or-5-year-old. Finding adequate medical care for her son has been difficult, Trisha adds.
"We lost our neurologist; he left and went back to California, and we never could find someone to replace him," Trisha said.
And the Moosman family isn't alone. Securing timely medical appointments is a widespread problem in Southern Nevada.
"There just aren't enough of us, and our schedules are overwhelmed with primary care referrals," says Dr. Howard Baron, a pediatric gastroenterologist with more than 30 years practicing medicine in the valley.
"As you know, the city has doubled or tripled in the last two decades, and the medical community had not doubled or tripled in size, and it was small to begin with," Baron said.
Nevada ranks 45th in the U.S. for active physicians per 100,000 people, according to the American Medical Association. With 7,388 licensed physicians in the state, we need an additional 1,500 primary care doctors to reach the national average.
"I hate to say it, but the dollar drives that process quite a bit," Baron said.
Between high insurance premiums and low pay, Baron notes that primary care doctors are compelled to increase their patient loads to sustain their practices.
"Ten or 15 patients a day in a primary care office, which would be a very reasonable number, isn't going to do that for them, so they have to double or triple that number of patients a day in order to make that work," Baron said.
And it's not just about the money.
"It's probably not a question of if you will be sued if you practice in Nevada, it's more when will you be sued if you practice in Nevada," Baron said.
Gina Harris, a claims manager for a medical practice insurance company, attributes this to Assembly Bill 404, which raised compensation limits for medical negligence cases.
"Nobody wants to put their family, their house, their livelihood at risk if they don't have to go to other states that have different provisions and are more friendly and that's why a lot of doctors leave and they can't afford medical malpractice premiums," Harris said.
Which leaves families like Trisha Moosman's in desperate need of care and without the resources they need.
"Have you ever had the question run through your mind, 'Should we move somewhere else?'" I asked her.
"We have. My husband's job is fantastic here, so we haven't, but we do feel very isolated," Tricia told me.
But she hopes changes in our healthcare system are coming soon.
"Bring on some more doctors for us. We need more nurse practitioners, physician assistants would be phenomenal," Moosman said. "Shorter and quicker access to appointments. Six months is a long time to wait."
