STIVERS’ RESOLUTION DIRECTS UNIVERSITIES  TO DEVELOP SOLUTIONS TO PHYSICIAN SHORTAGES

The Kentucky Senate has approved a joint resolution directing the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, and Eastern Kentucky University to coordinate a comprehensive search for actionable solutions to physician and health care shortages and expand health care access in medically underserved areas.

Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, presented Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 116 in the Senate Standing Committee on Health Services today. The resolution passed unanimously.

“Access to a doctor should not depend on your ZIP code,” Stivers said. “By bringing our leading universities and partners together, we are taking a focused, data-driven approach to ensure more Kentuckians, especially those in unserved and underserved areas, have access to quality care. Strengthening our physician workforce and other healthcare providers strengthens families, communities, and the Commonwealth as a whole.”

The three universities will need to collaborate with community partners, state agencies, professional associations, and other stakeholders to identify strategies that address workforce shortages, improve physician retention in underserved areas, and expand access through technology and community-based care models.

More than 75 percent of Kentucky physicians practice in urban areas, leaving many rural counties without adequate access to primary and specialty care. As a result, residents in medically underserved communities must often travel long distances for treatment. This creates financial and transportation barriers that can lead to delayed or foregone care.

“Who is better equipped than our leading universities to solve this healthcare problem?” said Stivers. 

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, 57 percent of medical residents continue practicing in the state where they complete their training. Lawmakers believe that expanding graduate medical education opportunities in underserved regions could significantly improve long-term physician retention.

The coordinated effort will examine initiatives and explore innovative options, including sponsoring community-based graduate medical education programs, expanding residency sites in underserved areas, encouraging safe international physician recruitment, increasing support for recruitment and placement services, diversifying the medical workforce pipeline, expanding telehealth and other technological delivery systems, and strengthening community-based medical models.

This joint resolution, if passed by both chambers, is just like bills and carries the weight of law.