Opinion: A nation with too few pediatricians could see health care costs soar
This year’s National Residency Match, the day when medical graduates learn which health system they will do their residency programs for the next step of their clinical training, may have been a bellwether for U.S. health care — and the results are worrisome.
Although this year’s Match featured more applicants than ever, a lower proportion of medical school grads chose one key specialty than ever before: pediatrics. Despite the increasing number of applicants, close to 30% of pediatric residency programs did not fill their residency positions, with the total number of graduates applying to pediatrics declining by 6.1% over last year, the largest single drop in the past decade of a steady decline.
