Tenth International Conference on Health, Wellness & Society

Abstract

Primary Care Physicians (PCP) play vital roles in the prevention and management of chronic disease. Until recently, there was no national survey of the impact PCP supply has on mortality rates in the United States, and there is no study which investigates this relationship within the state of Florida. With increasing rates of chronic disease and a rapidly growing population, the role that PCP supply has on health outcomes in Florida may help to inform health policy. The primary research objective was to investigate the relationship between Primary Care Physician supply and population health outcomes in Florida. Retrospective, cross-sectional data available from the Florida Department of Health between 2009-2018 was used to analyze the association between Primary Care Physician supply and general population health outcomes. Multiple regression analysis using STATA 14 was run for each variable of interest while controlling for various demographic and socioeconomic variables. Logistic regression models were used, and we found that primary care physician supply is a factor in life expectancy in the state of Florida, but only in the more recent years (2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018). It will be important to continue tracking this variable, as the number of medical schools across the nation and in Florida increase. We hope that the data from our analysis can be used to better inform health policy and decision making in the state of Florida and serve as a template for researchers hoping to examine similar variables in their regions of interest.