Solving the Doctor Shortage: One Author’s Plan to Reform Health Education

By Your Health Magazine Contributor

Your Health Magazine Contributor

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Solving the Doctor Shortage: One Author’s Plan to Reform Health Education

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) predicts a shortfall of 141,160 physicians by 2038. This widespread aspect of the healthcare crisis will affect 30 out of 35 medical specialties.

Despite the projected shortage, the problem is often discussed as a long-term structural challenge with no simple solution. Rural counties lose obstetrics and nursing units run on overtime, but no one seems to think they can do something to change that. Policymakers respond with loan repayments here and fast-track licensing there, offering solutions that help at the margins but rarely rebuild the pipeline.

Author Gregory Gallivan lays out a different approach in his newly released book, “Healthcare: Compassion in Action.” 

“You cannot fix a workforce crisis in healthcare without fixing the education system that feeds it,” Gallivan argues. “To do that, you have to start far earlier than college. Our healthcare system is broken and insufficient, and education reform is the first necessary alteration in creating a healthier society.”

The solution to the healthcare workforce shortage begins with medical education reform

Right now, the path to medicine is gated by cost, timing, and instability. Many students with the potential to become excellent physicians end up walking away from a career in healthcare before they ever apply because they cannot afford years of prerequisites and unpaid clinical hours. They are daunted by expensive test prep and the risk of taking on debt that can reach life-altering levels. 

Gallivan argues that these barriers can reduce the number of students who pursue healthcare careers and narrow the pool of future clinicians.

Gallivan proposes a merit-based pathway that would open free undergraduate study in high-need fields such as premed and nursing to any qualified student. The funding mechanism he describes is a modest lifetime income-share model in which graduates contribute a small percentage of earnings over time rather than paying upfront or drowning in compounding interest.

“If we are serious about training more doctors and nurses, we need to be serious about opening up the journey,” says Gallivan. “A merit-based pathway changes who can enter the funnel, how early they can commit, and how many drop out for financial reasons unrelated to ability.”

But Gallivan argues that this reform has to start as early as middle school. By then, he sees students already being turned away from the medical profession. The sorting is both academic and emotional.

The book makes an urgent case for neuroinclusivity and equal opportunity at this stage. “We write so many students off early,” notes Gallivan. “If our nation wants more clinicians, we cannot afford to waste talent simply because a child had a harder start.”

“Healthcare: Compassion in Action” describes the ideal setting for developing young healthcare professionals as a comfortable place where children feel safe and cared for. Classes should be tailored to each individual’s preferred learning style, and the focus needs to be on teaching students how to think, not what to parrot back. That makes all the difference in medicine, where ambiguity and judgment under pressure are everyday occurrences, and where a student trained to memorize for tests may earn credentials, but not trust.

“We need to train more people,” Gallivan explains, “but we also need to stop pricing out talent. We need to build schools that create confidence along with compassion and critical reasoning. Those are the traits patients feel when a clinician walks into the room.”

How medical education reform can bring more doctors and nurses to every region

The shortage is not just about total numbers. It is about distribution.

Even when America produces enough graduates, the system still fails large portions of the country. Rural communities struggle to recruit primary care physicians. Small cities lose specialists. Patients cycle through urgent care because they can’t establish consistent relationships with providers.

Gallivan argues that a rebuilt education pipeline could support a return to something many people still long for. “We need to go back to a model where patients know their care providers well before they need them,” he says. “This makes continuity the baseline.”

So, how does education reform impact geography? Gallivan argues that making undergraduate pathways more affordable and predictable could reduce financial pressure on graduates when choosing specialties and practice locations.

Gallivan’s education vision is local by design. He advocates for smaller neighborhood schoolhouses and community spaces as hands-on learning hubs, pointing to collaborative libraries that inspire curiosity with cutting-edge equipment and experimentation.

“Healthcare careers are often born from exposure to things like a good biology lab or volunteer experience,” Gallivan reflects. “If you concentrate those sparks only in wealthy districts and elite campuses, you concentrate future clinicians there, too. If you spread them in underserved regions, you seed the workforce locally. That is the surest path to local retention.”

Practical skill-building and community engagement can also take place in programs like FFA, 4-H, and CSA-style farming lessons. “Healthcare: Compassion in Action” notes that even unlikely topics, such as agriculture and veterinary work, expose children to vital aspects of healthcare. Knowledge of food systems, environmental conditions, and animal health all broaden the healthcare workforce with greater resilience and upstream prevention.

“It is time to stop letting geography decide who gets exposure to science and mentorship,” Gallivan concludes. “The job of recruiting needed doctors and nurses for every region does not begin in residency. It starts when a 12-year-old decides whether school is a place they belong and whether a life of service is a possible dream.”