How dermatology became the 'it' job in medicine

Isn't this disconnected from the reality of medical school competitiveness that is, at least on paper, supposed to filter students who are not going to use their highly sought after education and resources for largely clerical jobs? What's the point of the American Medical Association restricting new medical schools and artificially constricting the number of medical students when the top of their field is to service patients with elective treatments?

The AMA has no power to restrict new medical schools or restrict the number of medical students. They aren't an accreditation or licensing agency. Several new medical schools have opened in the past few years.

https://lcme.org/directory/accredited-u-s-programs/

At one point the AMA did lobby Congress to restrict the number of residency slots but they long since reversed that position and now lobby for an expansion.

https://savegme.org/

With respect to residency, there is no cap. What they lobbied for is a restriction to the number of subsidized slots.

You would think that Hospitals would be able and willing to pay for residents.

Something doesnt add up.

> You would think that Hospitals would be able and willing to pay for residents.

Why would you think that? Pay... out of their profit margins... to reduce their profit margins? Or do you mean in la-la-land where American CEOs make investments that are likely to show returns only 10+ years out in the future?

I'm saying you think it would make money to pay doctors instead of not having doctors.

Anyways, a huge number of hospitals are non profit and still have the residency issue. There is something systemically fucked going on if a hospital can't turn a profit on a MD with "only” 8 years of postsecondary education, and needs 4-6 years more

Eh, hospitals are the practice location of last resort after they wipe out independent practices in their local areas. Doctors are totally fungible to a dominant health system. A dime a dozen.

As a hospital, they also have no incentive to treat people earlier in disease progression with less expensive care or anything. Just let the ailments fester until they have to be rescued with the most expensive interventions on the planet.

No one said anything about "not turning a profit." If you think a profit-seeking organization exists only to turn a profit, you misunderstand the enterprise.

Doesn't the AMA administer the MCAT and facilitate the applications for not just medical schools but also residencies for Dermatology? I think excluding that while including that they're not literally the organization that does accreditation and licensing is misleading.

They're one of the largest lobbying groups in America with disastrous consequences. They have a consistent history of empty promises, including their rhetoric on expansion which hasn't been successful despite the years they've had and the political leverage during the national health emergency. https://www.zippia.com/advice/largest-lobbyist-groups/

Here's a differing opinion from yours where "The American Medical Association (AMA) bears substantial responsibility for the policies that led to physician shortages". https://blog.petrieflom.law.harvard.edu/2022/03/15/ama-scope...

I hear about how wealthy and powerful the medical community is yet they shift the blame at every opportunity. I hope medical schools require students have a spine too.

I think you are being intentionally combative, uncurious, and condescending.

You are not engaging with the question posed, merely listing a number of cynicisms tangential at best, or factually incorrect at worst.

Independent practices generally cant operate licensed residency programs. Similarly, your model of hospital behavior ironically requires them to forgo money could make today to cash in on expensive interventions decades in the future - exactly what you claim they are incapable of doing.

Last, you claim doctors are a dime a dozen, yet hospitals pay 4, 5, or 600k to employ them, and frequently close due to an inability to secure them at reasonable costs.

No, the AMA doesn't administer the MCAT nor does it facilitate the residency match program. Those are administered by the AAMC and NRMP, respectively.

It's always disappointing to see this kind of lazy, low-effort comment on HN. This is all public information that you could easily find if you bother to look.