UK health expert discusses ratio between doctors and patients in Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The national ratio of physicians to patients stands at 247 for every 100,000 people. However, data from 2022 collected by the AAMC reveals that Kentucky lags slightly behind, with only 242.6 physicians per 100,000 patients.

Ginny Gottschalk, chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine at UK, discussed the impact of this disparity.

“Pretty much across the board, all departments and specialties are very busy with patients. We know that particularly in our state, we have a shortage of physicians—especially in primary care,” Gottschalk noted.

This shortage is affecting the quality of care available to residents, particularly in primary care settings. To address this issue, UK and many other hospitals are actively working to recruit interns and train new physicians. These efforts aim to bolster the number of doctors in Kentucky and improve patient care statewide.

For more details on the data released, click here.