Navigating the Abyss – The Healthcare Blog

By SUHANA MISHRA

Residing in the often-overlooked San Joaquin Valley, I have personally felt the impact of the primary care physician shortage. My family struggled to access basic medical care for common illnesses like the flu. Getting appointments with the local doctor was not only difficult: it often meant seeking emergency care or traveling long distances for simple treatments. Non-urgent problems that could have been resolved through accessible primary care overwhelmed urgent care centers, which often experienced long wait times and suboptimal conditions. These first-hand experiences revealed how critical access to primary care is to our community. They also sparked my passion for change. Leading a HOSA community service campaign on California’s physician shortage gave me a clearer view of the systemic nature of the problem and fueled my determination to seek long-term solutions.

California, despite being a hub of innovation, faces a serious and growing deficit in access to primary care. Nowhere is this more evident than in areas like the San Joaquin Valley. Long travel distances, physician burnout, and systemic neglect manifest in community-wide health declines. A UCSF study found that only two regions in California meet the federally recommended threshold of 60 to 80 primary care doctors per 100,000 residents. As expected, the San Joaquin Valley falls well below this benchmark.

Although programs such as the Steven M. Thompson Physician Loan Repayment Program attempt to incentivize physicians to practice in underserved areas, their impact is limited. According to CapRadio, a third of California doctors are over 55 and close to retirement. CalMatters estimates that by 2030, the state will be short more than 10,000 primary care physicians. The implications are dire, not only for logistics and care delivery, but also for the long-term health of Californians.

When patients face barriers to consistent care, chronic conditions go unaddressed.

Preventive screenings are ignored. Communities are losing faith in the very systems designed to keep them healthy. A 2022 study from Patient Engagement HIT showed that individuals living in areas with the lowest concentration of primary care providers had a 37% higher risk of hypertension than those in well-served communities. These statistics are not just numbers: they represent real lives.

This growing gap is further widened by the declining number of medical students pursuing primary care. Only 36% of graduates enter this field, and those who do often prefer to practice in urban areas with better infrastructure and specialized networks. The result? Physicians stationed in underserved areas are exhausted by overwhelming demand. In a survey conducted by the California Health Care Foundation, 68 percent of doctors said they would choose a different specialty if they could start over, largely because of stress and burnout. Additionally, many rural communities do not have nearby medical schools, exacerbating geographic imbalances in where new doctors choose to train and eventually work. In the Coachella Valley, for example, the nearest medical school is 75 miles away, according to the UCSF Healthforce Center.

We cannot solve the crisis by focusing only on incentives: we must start earlier. My experience with HOSA revealed how few students know this shortage exists. Educational programs such as Project Lead The Way (PLTW) and HOSA have the potential to fill this gap by exposing students to health care early and empowering them to choose primary care. By building awareness and engagement at the high school and community college level, we can begin to change the narrative. Future doctors must understand that their choice of specialty has a broader societal impact. When students see the direct connection between access to health care and community well-being, especially in areas like ours, they are more likely to feel personally called to make a difference.

Medical schools must also be part of the solution. More programs should prioritize primary care training, particularly with an emphasis on rural and underserved placements. Scholarship, mentoring, and longitudinal clinical experiences in these areas can help shape a more equitable distribution of the medical workforce. Solving this problem requires not only a policy change, but also a cultural shift in how we value and promote careers in primary care.

Behind every doctor shortage statistic are people who travel miles to basic appointments or spend hours waiting for emergency care for problems that should have been treated locally. These aren’t just gaps in the system: they’re also times when trust in health care is lost. Solutions must do more than mix the numbers; they must restore this trust. This means valuing primary care not as an afterthought, but as the heart of public health. That means elevating the voices of community health workers who already shoulder much of the load, and it means giving students hands-on experiences in underserved areas so they feel the urge to come back. If we can align policy with lived experience – pairing scholarship and training with grassroots engagement – ​​then we can rebuild a system that feels human again. Fairness doesn’t just come from data tables; it’s about ensuring that no community has to wonder if care is truly within their reach.

Suhana Mishra is a high school researcher and public health advocate in California’s Central Valley.