Navy Faces Doctor, Dentist Shortage

By: fedweek

By 2013 the Navy could be 10 percent short of its manning level of 3,700 physicians, and it could be lacking 5 percent of its target of 1,000 dentists. The shortages primarily will be lieutenants, who handle much of the primary care work afloat and ashore, and serve in residency programs that create medical specialists. Meanwhile, if Navy medical fellowship programs cannot provide the minimum number of students, the programs could lose their accreditation. In the past, about 80 percent of Navy doctors have come from the Health Professions Scholarship Program. This program has been lagging, because of the deployment rate and relative lower income of Navy providers. The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences has continued to meet its recruiting goal of about 50 students a year because its students receive more funds that those in the scholarship program.