CT trains lots of doctors but we don’t keep them

A new report on physician workforce finds that CT is a hub for training physicians, both medical school and residency training but we are falling behind in retaining those graduates. The report from the Association of American Medical Colleges finds that physician capacity in CT now is is good ranking 6^th highest among states in the number of physicians per population, and 10^th in primary care. But the future is less rosy. Our physicians are slightly older than the rest of the nation, and we are not retaining students who study and train here. CT ranks 4^th among states in medical residency slots per population, 3^rd in primary care, and about average in medical school slots. But we are very poor at keeping those students practicing in our state, ranking 42^nd overall. Successful states have proactive policies to retain and attract physicians to serve their residents including assistance with student debt that averages $180,000 for new graduates, opening new schools, which CT has done, funding residency slots, and recruiting physicians with local roots.