By SUHANA MISHRA
Residing in the often overlooked San Joaquin Valley, I have personally felt the impact of the primary care physician shortage. My family had difficulty accessing basic medical care for common illnesses like the flu. Getting appointments with the local doctor was not only difficult: it often meant resorting to urgent care or driving long distances for simple treatments. Non-emergency problems that could have been resolved with accessible primary care overwhelmed urgent care centers, which often had long wait times and suboptimal conditions. These firsthand experiences revealed how critical access to primary care is for our community. They also sparked my passion for change. Leading a HOSA Community Service Campaign about the physician shortage in California gave me a clearer view of the systemic nature of the problem and fueled my determination to seek long-term solutions.
California, despite being a center of innovation, faces a severe and growing deficit in access to primary care. Nowhere is this more evident than in regions like the San Joaquin Valley. Long commutes, physician burnout, and systemic neglect manifest in declining health throughout the community. A UCSF study reported that only two regions in California meet the federally recommended threshold of 60 to 80 primary care physicians per 100,000 residents. As expected, the San Joaquin Valley is well below this benchmark.
Although programs like Steven M. Thompson Medical Corps Loan Repayment Program If you try to incentivize doctors to practice in underserved areas, the impact is limited. According to CapRadio, one-third of California doctors are over 55 and nearing retirement. CalMatters He estimates that by 2030, the state will be short more than 10,000 primary care physicians. The implications are dire, not only for the logistics and delivery of care, but also for the long-term health outcomes of Californians.
When patients face barriers to consistent care, chronic diseases go uncontrolled.
Preventive exams are omitted. Communities lose trust in the very systems designed to keep them healthy. TO 2022 Patient Engagement HIT Study showed that people in areas with the lowest concentration of primary care providers had a 37% higher risk of hypertension than those in well-served communities. These statistics are not just numbers: they represent real lives.
This growing gap is further widened by a decline in the number of medical students pursuing primary care degrees. Only 36% of graduates enter this field, and those who do often prefer to practice in urban areas with better infrastructure and networks of specialists. The result? Existing doctors in underserved regions are exhausted due to overwhelming demand. in a survey conducted by the California Health Care Foundation68% of doctors said they would choose a different specialty if they could start over, largely due to stress and burnout. Additionally, many rural communities lack nearby medical schools, exacerbating geographic imbalances in where new doctors choose to train and eventually work. In the Coachella Valley, for example, the closest medical school is 75 miles away, according to the Health Force Center at UCSF.
We cannot solve the crisis by focusing solely on incentives: we must start earlier. My experience with HOSA revealed that few students even know this shortage exists. Educational programs such as Project leads the way (PLTW) and HOSA have the potential to close this gap by exposing students to early health care and empowering them to choose primary care. By raising awareness and engagement at the high school and community college levels, we can begin to change the narrative. Future doctors must understand that their choice of specialty has a broader societal impact. When students see the direct connection between access to health care and community well-being, especially in regions like ours, they are more likely to feel personally called to make a difference.
Medical schools must also be part of the solution. More programs should prioritize primary care training, especially with an emphasis on rural and underserved locations. Scholarships, mentorship, and longitudinal clinical experiences in these areas can help shape a more equitable distribution of the medical workforce. Addressing this issue requires not only a policy change, but also a cultural change in the way we value and promote primary care careers.
Behind every doctor shortage statistic are people driving miles for basic appointments or spending hours waiting in urgent care for conditions that should have been treated locally. These are not just gaps in the system: they are times when trust in healthcare is lost. Solutions must do more than mix numbers; They must restore that trust. That means valuing primary care not as an afterthought but as the heart of public health. It means elevating the voices of community health workers who already carry much of the burden, and it means giving students hands-on experiences in underserved areas so they feel the urge to return. If we can align policies with lived experience – combining scholarships and training with grassroots engagement – then we can rebuild a system that feels human again. Fairness doesn’t just come from data tables; it’s about ensuring that no community has to wonder if care is really within their reach.
Suhana Mishra is a high school researcher and public health advocate from California’s Central Valley.
