Addressing doctor shortage could be a primary challenge for lawmakers

Christopher Allen

12/20/2024

DR. MICHAEL FINE, former director of the R.I. Department of Health, says taking steps such as creating new residencies for primary care physicians and nurse practitioners would be a start to reducing the shortage in personnel in primary care, followed by new scholarship programs with the caveat that recipients agree to practice in Rhode Island. / PBN FILE PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

State legislators might consider a host of potential prescriptions to ease Rhode Island’s worsening shortage of primary care doctors when they convene in January, from beefing up loan forgiveness programs to overhauling Medicaid reimbursement rates to lowering barriers for foreign doctors to practice in Rhode Island. The lack of physicians is top of mind for

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