Have you or a family member recently experienced this situation— you try to schedule an appointment with a primary care physician, only to receive the reply, “No one can see you now?” Then you have to wait weeks before getting an appointment, all while an issue persists?
Well, you’re far from alone.
Finding a trusted primary care provider has become increasingly difficult, even in well-served areas. If you’re searching for the best family doctor in Los Gatos, Dr. Arun Villivalam at Los Gatos Doc is here to help. He provides compassionate, patient-focused care, ensuring that families receive the attention they need, without long wait times.
At Los Gatos Doc, we realize the shortage of family doctors is a problem years in the making, and its effects are becoming more acute with each passing day. In fact, the Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that by the year 2036, we’ll be facing a shortage of between 20,200 to 40,400 primary care physicians (Association of American Medical Colleges 3).
So what’s causing this intense shortage? And more importantly, what can be done to minimize these projections in the coming years?
Let’s understand the root causes and possible solutions:
Family Doctors vs. Primary Care Physicians— What’s the Difference?
Before we dive into the problem, let’s take a moment to clear up some terminology. The terms “family doctor” and “primary care physician” are often used interchangeably, but there is a distinction to be made between the two. Family doctors are indeed primary care physicians (PCPs), but not all primary care physicians are family doctors.
Your primary care physician is likely your first point of contact when you have an issue you’d like addressed. They provide general medical care.
A family doctor is a PCP that specializes in family medicine. They see patients of all ages, from kids to grandparents. This can differ from other PCPs that focus on a specific age range, such as pediatricians.
Regardless, both of these types of doctors are in shortage. In this article we will focus on family doctor shortage in America.
What’s Causing the Family Doctor Shortage?
The truth is that the shortage of family doctors is a problem that is being driven by multiple factors, and has been for a long time. There are three core reasons behind it:
1. Doctors are facing burnout like never before
While the COVID-19 pandemic may have passed in large part, the burnout that it caused among doctors is still prevalent. Family care doctors faced the brunt of this burnout, as they were people’s first point of contact as they got sick. As high as 62.8% of doctors reported symptoms of burnout during the pandemic in 2021, compared to 38.2% the previous year (Shanafelt et al. 1612).
During this time family doctors had to manage a huge influx of patients who were getting sick, as well as the distribution and prioritization of vaccines as they became available, all while still caring for their routine patients.
With this increased workload and stress, it’s no surprise that in 2021 over 100,000 doctors left the field, many retiring early (Fierce Healthcare).
2. The population of doctors is aging
One of the biggest contributing factors to the impending lack of family doctors is the fact that in 2021, 47% of active U.S. physicians were at least 55 years old (Association of American Medical Colleges). That means that when these doctors reach 65 years and older in the next decade, we can expect a significant number of them to retire. Without enough incoming new doctors to replace them, a shortage is inevitable.
3. Not enough med students are choosing to pursue family medicine
On the topic of replenishing the workforce of retiring doctors, the data shows that new doctors entering the workforce are not choosing to pursue family medicine, and are instead opting for other specialties.
To understand why, we don’t have to look much farther than compensation. According to the Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2024, pediatricians—one of the primary care specialties—earn an average of $260,000 annually, significantly less than procedural-based specialties like orthopedics or cardiology.
How is the Family Doctor Shortage Impacting Communities?
Now that we’ve established the causes, let’s look at the impacts highlighted by the American Medical Association on communities so far:
Existing doctors are feeling even more pressure
As more family doctors retire or leave the workforce, the ones left behind are left with a bigger pool of patients to care for. This leads to even more stress and burnout, which pushes even more doctors out of the field. As a result, the cycle of pushing primary care physicians out of the industry only gets worse.
Reduced access in rural areas
Families living in rural areas have long faced challenges of access to quality healthcare that is also within a reasonable distance from their homes. The shortage of family doctors is impacting these areas even more intensely than their urban counterparts, as it’s harder to attract new physicians to these areas.
Longer wait times for appointments
It’s only natural— with fewer doctors to service the population, families are waiting longer and longer for appointments. These increased wait times are causing a delay in timely diagnosis and treatment.
Family doctors have always had a significant hand in preventative healthcare. The fact that patients were receiving regular checkups is what allowed early detection and intervention in conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease.
But with long wait times and difficulty booking appointments, patients are now skipping their regular checkups all together. And there are consequences to this— reduced early detection means a more challenging healthcare road down the line.
Overburdened emergency rooms
As we see, the effect of one problem is the cause of another. With long wait times come missed checkups, and with missed checkups, come intensified health problems down the line. Patients with conditions that were previously detected and managed by primary care physicians are unknowingly pushing problems off, which can ultimately land them in emergency rooms.
Aside from an influx of patients with existing conditions, others are turning to the emergency room for non-emergency events, as a result of not being able to book timely appointments. These non urgent visits put even more strain on doctors who are trying to manage an already overburdened emergency room.
How Can the Family Doctor Shortage Be Solved (or at Least Mitigated?)
When you have a multi-faceted problem like the family doctor shortage, you need a multi-faceted solution.
Medical School Incentives, Loan Forgiveness, and Better Pay
The obvious solution to the problem is to increase the supply of family care doctors. But how?
One way is to incentivize med students to choose the field. Medical schools can offer lower or zero tuition to students who choose to pursue this field, and government programs can offer loan forgiveness.
But this alone is not enough— when there is such a discrepancy in pay between primary care physicians and more specialized fields, it’s natural that these other fields attract more students. By increasing the pay for doctors practicing family care, more students will be attracted to the area.
Using Telemedicine and New Care Options
The world of healthcare is changing with advancements in technology. One way that rural areas can benefit from these changes is through the adoption of telemedicine, or telehealth. By connecting with primary care physicians online, at least as a first step, families have increased access to doctors, without increased travel time and expenses.
With the introduction of alternative care models, doctors are able to make use of remote patient monitoring and virtual health assistants. Doing so helps them streamline chronic disease management, reducing the workload for them, and the burden of travel on their patients.
Getting the Family Care that You Need
At Los Gatos Doc, we are committed to providing accessible, high-quality care despite the ongoing family doctor shortage. If you’re searching for the best family doctor in Los Gatos, Dr. Arun Villivalam offers compassionate, patient-centered care to ensure your health needs are met. Whether you need a trusted primary care physician in Los Gatos for preventive checkups, chronic disease management, or same-day appointments, Dr. Villivalam and his team are here to support you every step of the way.
Works Cited
Association of American Medical Colleges. The Complexities of Physician Supply and Demand: Projections from 2021 to 2036. AAMC, Nov. 2023, www.aamc.org/media/75231/download?attachment. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.
Association of American Medical Colleges. “Aging Patients and Doctors Drive Nation’s Physician Shortage.” AAMC News, 11 June 2021, www.aamc.org/news/aging-patients-and-doctors-drive-nation-s-physician-shortage. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.
Fierce Healthcare. “More than 300K Healthcare Providers Dropped Out of Workforce in 2021, Report Finds.” Fierce Healthcare, 9 May 2022, www.fiercehealthcare.com/providers/more-300k-healthcare-providers-dropped-out-workforce-2021-report-finds. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.
Medscape. “Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2024: Bigger Checks, Yet Doctors Still See an Underpaid Profession.” Medscape, 12 Apr. 2024, www.medscape.com/slideshow/2024-compensation-overview-6017073. Accessed 17 Mar. 2025.