\n\t\t\t\t\t\tResidents of the Central Coast are facing a growing crisis as the shortage of doctors makes it increasingly difficult to find new physicians and secure timely medical appointments.Linda Deutsch, an 80-year-old resident, recently experienced this firsthand when her primary care physician retired.\u201cI assumed that I would be able to just make a transfer within the same location to one of the other doctors. And I was told, no, they don\u2019t accept new patients,\u201d Deutsch said.After extensive research, she found a clinic in Monterey accepting new patients, but the earliest available appointment was in November 2026.\u201cWell, at my age, a year is a long time,\u201d Deutsch said.Dr. Alan Radner, CEO of Salinas Valley Health, highlighted the national scope of the issue during a keynote address at an economic forum at Cal State Monterey Bay.\u201cWe\u2019ve done a terrible job in this nation in having an adequate number of providers. I\u2019ve seen numbers in the last few weeks that between 80,000 and 150,000 providers \u2014 or physicians \u2014 short in this country. This is affecting access,\u201d Radner said.He emphasized the need for significant investment in the health care workforce.The shortage is not just an inconvenience; it can pose serious risks to patients. Radner shared an anecdote from his training in emergency medicine about a young woman who ended up in the ICU with septic shock from a urinary tract infection because she couldn\u2019t access a doctor for a simple prescription.\u201cAnd she ended up waiting, getting so sick she ends up. So the health care system, because she didn\u2019t have insurance, also then had to now pay for a week in an ICU for a young woman that almost died,\u201d Radner said.Dr. Mark Carvahlo of Montage Health is working to recruit more young doctors to the area, showcasing new facilities such as a building set to open at Ryan Ranch.However, the high cost of living and substantial student loan debt are significant barriers.\u201cHere\u2019s what we know about the peninsula. One is we get a lot of interested applicants because we have great sea otters and whales and great scenery. So we get a lot of applicants, but the number of applicants then drop significantly to ones that are submitted and reviewed, in part because they go on Zillow or they go on Redfin, and then they start really thinking about the reality of the cost of moving here,\u201d Carvahlo said.For young doctors, loan payments can amount to $3,000 to $4,000 a month, making relocation challenging.The issue extends beyond the peninsula to areas such as South County, Santa Cruz and San Benito County.Health care systems are aggressively recruiting, offering signing bonuses, housing assistance and loan repayment help to attract more doctors.Deutsch eventually found a new doctor, but she remains concerned for others facing similar challenges.\u201cBut I thought to myself, \u2018What if I were ill and all my records are with a doctor that retired, and I have no one to do my lab work or just checking on the conditions that I have? I can\u2019t just go to urgent care or the emergency room. I need someone to monitor my health. And I thought, I\u2019m really lucky, but what does somebody do if they\u2019re in dire straits?\u2019\u201d Deutsch said. \u201cOr what if someone just came to the area and needed a doctor? I mean, there\u2019s a year\u2019s wait. What are they supposed to do?\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tSALINAS, Calif. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Residents of the Central Coast are facing a growing crisis as the shortage of doctors makes it increasingly difficult to find new physicians and secure timely medical appointments.<\/p>\n
Linda Deutsch, an 80-year-old resident, recently experienced this firsthand when her primary care physician retired.<\/p>\n
\u201cI assumed that I would be able to just make a transfer within the same location to one of the other doctors. And I was told, no, they don\u2019t accept new patients,\u201d Deutsch said.<\/p>\n
After extensive research, she found a clinic in Monterey accepting new patients, but the earliest available appointment was in November 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, at my age, a year is a long time,\u201d Deutsch said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Alan Radner, CEO of Salinas Valley Health, highlighted the national scope of the issue during a keynote address at an economic forum at Cal State Monterey Bay.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done a terrible job in this nation in having an adequate number of providers. I\u2019ve seen numbers in the last few weeks that between 80,000 and 150,000 providers \u2014 or physicians \u2014 short in this country. This is affecting access,\u201d Radner said.<\/p>\n
He emphasized the need for significant investment in the health care workforce.<\/p>\n
The shortage is not just an inconvenience; it can pose serious risks to patients. Radner shared an anecdote from his training in emergency medicine about a young woman who ended up in the ICU with septic shock from a urinary tract infection because she couldn\u2019t access a doctor for a simple prescription.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd she ended up waiting, getting so sick she ends up. So the health care system, because she didn\u2019t have insurance, also then had to now pay for a week in an ICU for a young woman that almost died,\u201d Radner said.<\/p>\n
Dr. Mark Carvahlo of Montage Health is working to recruit more young doctors to the area, showcasing new facilities such as a building set to open at Ryan Ranch.<\/p>\n
However, the high cost of living and substantial student loan debt are significant barriers.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere\u2019s what we know about the peninsula. One is we get a lot of interested applicants because we have great sea otters and whales and great scenery. So we get a lot of applicants, but the number of applicants then drop significantly to ones that are submitted and reviewed, in part because they go on Zillow or they go on Redfin, and then they start really thinking about the reality of the cost of moving here,\u201d Carvahlo said.<\/p>\n
For young doctors, loan payments can amount to $3,000 to $4,000 a month, making relocation challenging.<\/p>\n
The issue extends beyond the peninsula to areas such as South County, Santa Cruz and San Benito County.<\/p>\n
Health care systems are aggressively recruiting, offering signing bonuses, housing assistance and loan repayment help to attract more doctors.<\/p>\n
Deutsch eventually found a new doctor, but she remains concerned for others facing similar challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I thought to myself, \u2018What if I were ill and all my records are with a doctor that retired, and I have no one to do my lab work or just checking on the conditions that I have? I can\u2019t just go to urgent care or the emergency room. I need someone to monitor my health. And I thought, I\u2019m really lucky, but what does somebody do if they\u2019re in dire straits?\u2019\u201d Deutsch said. \u201cOr what if someone just came to the area and needed a doctor? I mean, there\u2019s a year\u2019s wait. What are they supposed to do?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents of the Central Coast are facing a growing crisis as the shortage of doctors makes it increasingly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[84280,7,84276,9,8,9476,84282,67847,84283,84281,1793,84275,1741,84279,84277,395,42943,84278],"class_list":{"0":"post-177182","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-adequate-number","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-area","11":"tag-california-headlines","12":"tag-california-news","13":"tag-doctor","14":"tag-health-care-workforce","15":"tag-high-cost","16":"tag-icu","17":"tag-interested-applicant","18":"tag-issue","19":"tag-linda-deutsch","20":"tag-lot","21":"tag-more-young-doctor","22":"tag-new-patient","23":"tag-peninsula","24":"tag-provider","25":"tag-radner"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}