OPINION: The data has spoken. Which data?

Editor’s note:

The Sunday Journal on July 27 and Aug. 3 published several health care-related op-eds and asked readers to share their experiences with the state’s health care system. Several responses are printed in this week’s edition.

Rep. Liz Thomson, D-Albuquerque, in the July 27 Sunday Journal, attempts to challenge misinformation and disinformation surrounding New Mexico’s dire physician shortage with a single fact. The Legislative Finance Committee asserts that 200 primary care physicians need to be recruited with 80 assigned to Bernalillo County. Other reliable sources depict a more urgent situation that requires a comprehensive approach.

The LFC data is a snapshot that captures a single point in time. Typically, data varies from one point to another. In contrast, longitudinal data from University of New Mexico Health Care Workforce Committee conveys a more serious problem: 30% of primary care providers lost over four years with 40% of our physician workforce expected to retire within five years, doubling the dearth of physicians.

The shortage hampers access throughout the state. Thirty-two counties in New Mexico are underserved. If policy is determined by the LFC figure and Bernalillo County receives 80 of the 200 PCPs, where does that leave counties like Doña Ana, where 43% of residents have difficulty accessing medical care?

Thomson cites ongoing efforts by our leaders to increase access to health care, such as expanding loan forgiveness for health care workers, creating a rural health care delivery fund for providers and creating a health care affordability fund for patients. Taxpayers deserve to know exactly what these programs are, how long they’ve been going on and how effective they are. The additional actionable steps Thomson proposes are short-term fixes. Promises of dream jobs, debt relief and first-home down payments may entice UNM grads to return home, but if they are unable to afford their malpractice premiums, they will be forced to leave when their contracts end. Burrell, New Mexico’s second medical school, was established to train more doctors for our state. It should soon be able to provide data regarding practice locations chosen by graduates who have just completed their first residency.

Two reforms passed in the 2025 legislative session address New Mexico’s loss of doctors: repeal of the gross receipts tax on coinsurance (building on past repeals for co-pays and deductibles) and the creation of a permanent trust fund for Medicaid to increase the rates paid providers.

Two major reforms failed. The Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and Medical Malpractice Reform. Joining the compact is the quickest way to increase access to health care; failure to participate creates a serious competitive disadvantage in attracting doctors. Failure to reform New Mexico’s medical malpractice law is a key reason why doctors retire early or leave for neighboring states where malpractice premiums cost half of those in New Mexico.

No one believes that injured patients should not be adequately compensated. However, New Mexico’s malpractice law is unbalanced. Why would a physician choose to live in a state where policies make it difficult if not impossible to practice medicine? State-backed financial incentives benefit out-of-state medical corporations only when physicians are recruited into the corporate system because they cannot afford to remain in independent practice. To reverse the growing shortage, the Legislature must involve, support and listen to the medical community.

New Mexicans are suffering. Delays in medical care are not phantom problems; they can be deadly. Ensuring every New Mexican has timely access to quality medical care is not stale political theater.