Maverick County has severe shortage of physicians

By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2015

At the July 28, 2015 Maverick County Hospital District Board of Directors regular meeting, Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center (FDRMC) Chief Executive Officer Richard Prati presented a Quarterly Report of medical services provided at FDRMC and current efforts to recruit new physicians to the community, citing a shortage of physicians in Maverick County.

Prati advised the MCHD Board of recent interviews and visits of prospective physicians to the community as well as recent hiring of new doctors by United Medical Centers.   Prati noted that there is a great demand in Maverick County for cardiology services physicians as well as in most fields of specialty. Prati added that FDRMC, United Medical Centers, and MCHD are working together in the recruitment of new physicians to Maverick County.

MCHD Board member Ricardo E. Calderon asked Prati how many physicians is Maverick County short of based on its population. Prati replied that there is that information is available from a service called IntelliMed but he could not say without having that information with him. Prati noted that as our community ages so do doctors and there is a need to develop a succession plan for new physicians as many local doctors are reaching retirement age and will need to be replaced as they retire. This is in addition to the current shortage of physicians in many primary and/or specialty areas such as pediatrics, urology, cardiology, neurology, obstetrics-gynecology, orthopedics, surgeons, and others.

Calderon noted that a United Medical Centers study several years ago had found that Maverick County had a need of up to 40 physicians in the community based on its population. According to a national study, the national ratio of physicians per 100,000 population is 98 doctors per 100,000 while Maverick County had a physician ratio of 26 per 100,000 population, establishing an unsatisfied demand for primary or specialty physicians of between 28 to 40 in Maverick County.

MCHD Board member Juan Manuel Farias stated that during the 1980’s he was personally approached by two leading local doctors at his home requesting him not to recruit or bring new physicians to Maverick County despite there being a large demand for more doctors in the community. Farias noted that during that period, seven new physicians were recruited and brought to the community. Farias added that now the FDRMC, UMC, and the MCHD are working together to recruit new physicians to Maverick County.

Prati stated that there are many opportunities and needs in all primary and specialty physicians in Maverick County.

Calderon asked Prati if there are any current efforts to keep track of the many Eagle Pass students who are studying medicine or doing their medical residencies as an attempt to recruit them to return to practice medicne in Eagle Pass. Prati replied that he is aware of some children of local physcians who are studying medicine or interested in studying medicine. Prati noted a recent interview of a local young doctor who chose to pursue a specialty residency in plastic surgery instead of returning to practice general surgery in Maverick County.

Prati stated that it is difficult to recruit doctors, pharmacists, and all types of health care professionals to Maverick County, but that does not discourage them from continuing to recruit physicians to fill the huge unsatisfied demand for doctors in Maverick County.