Israel is currently facing a severe shortage of physicians, and that shortage is expected to worsen in the coming years. To deal with the shortage, the Ministry of Health is developing a comprehensive reform that includes a variety of targeted interventions as well as a broader change in the process for medical workforce planning. The Ministry of Health asked Myers-JDC-Brookdale (MJB) to prepare a preliminary review of medical workforce planning mechanisms in selected OECD countries.
MJB researchers, together with the relevant professionals at the Ministry of Health, chose both the specific parameters concerning which the information was collected, and the seven countries and one province (hereafter: countries) that were included in the review (Israel, the United States, Australia, England, Ontario, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Belgium). To gather data for the review, in the second half of 2023, MJB researchers corresponded with 1-2 medical workforce experts in each of the selected countries.
The review found that official forecasts regarding the medical workforce are published periodically in all the countries surveyed, except for England and Israel. This finding underscores the importance of a recent Israeli initiative to develop a comprehensive medical workforce forecast for the first time. It also encourages Israel to adopt this initiative as a permanent enterprise that produces periodic forecasts.
In half of the countries surveyed, the government determines – at the national level – the total number of new entrants to medical schools and specialty training programs. Israel, which does not do so currently, should seriously consider adopting this practice.
In several of the countries surveyed, including Israel, financial incentives are the main tool for promoting policy goals related to the medical workforce. In some countries, not including Israel, governments employ regulation in addition to financial incentives. Israel should consider, in consultation with experts from the relevant countries, the costs and benefits of using regulation as a mechanism for advancing policy objectives related to the medical workforce.
Citing suggestion: Rosen, B. (2024). Medical Workforce Planning in Israel and Selected OECD Countries. Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute. (Hebrew)