Correspondence

Ratio of Specialists to Family Practitioners in the United States

N Engl J Med 1997; 337:282July 24, 1997

Article

To the Editor:

In Table 2 of his Special Report (March 20 issue),1 Benatar compares the health care system in his country with that in the United States. Benatar shows the United States as having a ratio of specialists to family practitioners of 1:1. In the past three years, this ratio has been well documented by many authors in the North American literature as 2:1, if not 2.5:1, depending on the definition of primary care physicians used.2-4

Julien F. Biebuyck, M.D.
Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA 17033

4 References

1. 1

   Benatar SR. Health care reform in the new South Africa. N Engl J Med 1997;336:891-895
   Full Text | Web of Science | Medline

2. 2

   Weiner JP. Forecasting the effects of health reform on US physician workforce requirement: evidence from HMO staffing patterns. JAMA 1994;272:222-230
   CrossRef | Web of Science | Medline

3. 3

   Cooper RA. Seeking a balanced physician workforce for the 21st century. JAMA 1994;272:680-687
   CrossRef | Web of Science | Medline

4. 4

   Cooper RA. Perspectives on the physician workforce to the year 2020. JAMA 1995;274:1534-1543
   CrossRef | Web of Science | Medline