Doctor Shortage in Fort Smith

Vice President for medical affairs, Larry Pearce, says Saint Edwards Mercy Hospital is about twenty physicians short and Sparks Hopsital says its short 100-150 doctors. The reason for this shortage? Pearce says the Federal Government did a flawed study. "A couple of decades ago, it determined that were going to have a surplus of physicians so, they cut back on funding for educting physicians." said Larry Pearce. Sparks CEO, Frederick Woodrell, says nothing has changed over the years. "Historically if you look at it, we have not changed the number of physicans that we have trained in the U.S over the last thirty years significantly and yet the U.S. population has grown significantly" said Frederick Woodrell. Pearce says St. Edwards Emergency room sees around forty-eight thousand patients per year and a physician shortage is a huge concern. "Weve got some nights when theres not a particular specialty available to take care of an emergency patient who comes in with an emergency" said Larry Pearce. Both St. Edwards and Sparks say the doctor shortage is not just a problem in Fort Smith but, all over the country.