The primary care shortage has been extensively chronicled on this blog.

Thomas Chappell writes about what is it like to be in Maryland (via Dr. Wes), where there are 16 percent fewer physicians per capita compared to the rest of the country.

Well, you get a situation where mid-level providers like NPs and PAs see an increasing number of patients.

Currently, 24 percent of mostly primary care training positions are filled with international medical graduates. That number will also likely rise.

Not that there’s anything wrong with NPs, PAs, and IMGs. The majority of them provide exceptional care.

Soon, specialists will uniformly be comprised of American medical graduates, while the majority of generalists will be composed of mid-levels and foreign-trained physicians.

It’s an interesting demographic glimpse of the future American medical workforce.