As the provisions of Obamacare continue to roll into effect, hospitals and clinics scramble to find enough doctors to treat the predicted wave of newly insured patients.

In preparation for 2014, when Obamacare provisions such as expanded Medicaid eligibility and fines for businesses that don’t provide coverage for full-time employees come into effect, hospitals and clinics are shoring up their human resources. With nearly 32 million individuals expected to be newly insured in the next two years, many of whom suffer untreated chronic health conditions, an unprecedented amount of stress will fall on the medical field over the next ten years. Many healthcare facilities are bringing on new staff to prepare for the surge.

The result? There simply aren’t enough doctors to go around. With the supply of hirable physicians dwindling, nearly 75% of surveyed facilities turned to other medical professionals to help fill the cracks in the past 12 months. Facilities are feeling the strain of healthcare reform at different rates, depending on their available staff and resources. However, one thing is clear: the rapidly changing face of healthcare yields potential risks and benefits for all involved, and may be a harbinger of an ideological shift in the way Americans think about healthcare and wellness.

Many hospitals and clinics that feel the crunch and can’t fill full-time positions are hiring locum tenens physicians to avoid short staffing. While this is good news for temporary doctors, it could become difficult down the line for the general public to find long-term treatment if more doctors begin to take on transient roles. However, the increasing popularity of locum tenens doctors does have a silver lining; many of these doctors are highly skilled and specialized, and over time will be able to reach more patients throughout the country who need their specific talents and acute care.

Another solution that struggling healthcare facilities have adopted in the face of healthcare reform is to beef up their staff with talented, high-level medical practitioners. Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants are in very high demand this year, since both can perform standard medical procedures and write prescriptions, freeing up doctors’ schedules for the less routine cases that cross their desks. However, the medical talent pool is limited, and as Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants take on more responsibility, their salaries climb, and shortage ensues. If demand continues to grow at the current rate, nursing school enrollees won’t meet the expanding needs of healthcare facilities over the next ten years.

This nursing shortage can negatively impact quality of care, especially in specialized fields. The Oncology Nursing Society assessed the projected aftershock of a nursing shortage, which has already been in process for the past thirteen years but is sure to worsen in the next two and may continue on until 2020. The combination of an aging nursing population and an increase in demand will lead to an unprecedented shortage, with underserved urban and rural areas, specialty practice areas such as oncology, and long-term care settings most affected. Simultaneously, aging baby boomers will require more oncological care, as approximately 77% of all cancers are diagnosed in patients aged 55 years and older. The Oncology Nursing Society suggests improving workplace conditions, salaries and benefits in order to recruit and retain employees and improve job satisfaction. Healthcare employers take note: providing quality care for patients may mean changing employee policies, raising salaries, eradicating mandatory overtime, and allowing for schedule flexibility.

While this rapid scrambling is foreboding, and the nursing shortage surely looms on the horizon, there’s hope for the future of medicine. This year, a record number of first time applicants applied to medical school: almost 34,000. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the number of first time applicants is “considered to be a barometer of interest in medicine” for young adults in the U.S. While drastic change always goads concern, there’s no reason to believe that doctors will become a rarity. Also, the change from single-physician to team-based care has the capacity to revolutionize how the nation thinks about health and wellness. Medical professionals like Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants will work to maintain patient health rather than cure disease—they’ll keep patients out of the more expensive hospital systems and specialty clinics by providing preventative care and education about how to live a healthy life. Similarly, with physicians, nurses, and upper-level medical professionals working together on a group of cases, new opportunities for synergy bloom, which may lead to more effective and efficient treatments. While medical professional shortage is a concern, there’s quite a bit to get excited about, too—as far as medicine is concerned, it’s a whole new world out there.

For more information please visit:

• The Oncology Nursing Society 
• The Association of American Medical Colleges