Baxter Regional Medical Center Fights to Bring Pediatricians to Mountain Home

Mountain Home

MOUNTAIN HOME – Dr. Michael Adkins is going to be feeling a little lonely come July 15. That’s when the only other pediatrician in Mountain Home, Dr. Perry Wilbur, is shutting down his practice, getting married and moving to Fayetteville.

At that point, Adkins will be the only pediatrician in Mountain Home, a situation officials at Baxter Regional Medical Center say they are working to rectify.

The Baxter Bulletin reports that two candidates have already been interviewed in the past two weeks for pediatrician positions at the hospital, officials there said, with the hope of hiring at least two pediatricians in the next two years.

“I know it won’t happen overnight, but I know we’re gonna try to get somebody here as quickly as possible,” Ron Peterson, president and CEO of Baxter Regional Medical Center, said.

Candidates’ names won’t be released yet, he added.

BRMC doesn’t have a timeframe to hire. A pediatrician can provide care to at least 2,000 children. Contracts vary, but a normal one will last two years.

The hospital prefers candidates looking for a small town, such as Mountain Home, Peterson said, and who is willing to commit long-term. The ability to provide high-quality care to patients is a must.

“I just want people to know that we are out there working hard to find a pediatrician, and we will find one,” Peterson said.

The issue takes a bigger stage

There’s a shortage of pediatricians across the country, especially in rural areas. Officials stressed there are several factors contributing to it.

James Graham, associate dean for undergraduate medical education at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, blamed it on maldistribution. Pediatricians tend to concentrate in larger cities.

Some pediatricians may ask if they’ll “have enough patients to run the practice.” The observation isn’t restricted to pediatricians but to other physicians in general.

But Wilbur said he likes small towns. That’s his reason for practicing in Mountain Home since 1993. He said his decision to relocate is “mainly” because of his soon-to-be stepson who already lives in Fayetteville.

On April 20, 2012, the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement released the Arkansas Health Workforce Strategic Plan: A Roadmap to Change that showed there were 466 pediatricians in the state, with 41 counties lacking a pediatrician.

These counties included Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Carroll, Cleburne and Conway. Pulaski County had the highest number of pediatricians — 247. Washington came in second with 31. Benton ranked third with 22. Baxter County had three at the time.

Graham said the Rural Practice Scholarship Program is helping with the shortage of pediatricians in rural communities. Students agree to practice for a few years in rural areas upon graduation when signing up.

“Obviously, the concern about having enough pediatrician has a direct and important effect on children and their families,” Graham said. “Not having enough pediatricians means either these children and families are not served, or in some cases, maybe having to be served by other physicians – family doctors or others.”

UAMS admits 174 students each year out of 2,300 or 2,400 applicants.

“It is rigorous to get into medical school,” Graham said.

In a fight to diminish the shortage, UAMS and other medical schools, increased their slots. UAMS went from accepting 150 students a year to 160, and then to 174 students. More students graduated from medical schools over the years, he noted, but the lack of residency training programs remained the “current issue.”

When students finish their medical school, they need to do a residency training also. For pediatricians, it takes three years. The residency programs — most of which are funded by the federal government through Medicare — have been frozen since 1997, Graham said. The funding hasn’t increased.

A 2016 study conducted by the IHS Inc., for the Association of American Medical Colleges, revealed a shortage of physicians between 61,700 to 94,700 by 2025. The shortage will be in both “primary and specialty care and specialty shortages will be particularly large,” according to the AAMC site.

These shortages “pose a real risk to patients,” the site added because it takes five to 10 years to train a doctor. Additionally, for patients to have access to the care they need, these “projected shortages in 2025 need to be addressed now,” according to the site.

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