Why can't we make more doctors?

Slate's "Explainer" column thanked Thomas Getzen, of Temple's Fox School of Business, for helping to answer the question: "Why is it taking so long to address the physician shortage?" Medical schools aren't producing enough graduates to satisfy the nation's need for doctors. That's because, anticipating a looming doctor surplus, medical schools stopped growing 30 years ago. Recently, medical schools started growing again, and they're now on track to increase the number of students 30 percent above the 2002 baseline by 2013, wrote columnist Brian Palmer.

Slate| June 27, 2011