Lack of health care providers exacerbates terrorist threat.(Practice Trends)

SAN DIEGO -- The urban areas faced with the highest threat of being attacked by terrorists are also the areas with the highest shortages of health care providers, Ivan C.A. Walks, M.D., said at the annual meeting of the National Medical Association. As a result, physicians in those areas need to do a better job of reassuring their patients that they will be protected.

"Just as people need to be able to trust the leaders in their country, they should also have trust in the medical community," said Dr. Walks, a neuropsychiatrist who heads a consulting firm in Washington. He reported that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has identified 30 high-threat urban areas across the country, including regions--such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia, New York, St. Louis, Houston, and Detroit--with large African American populations. All of these areas have reported provider shortages, according to Dr. Walks.

He referred to one study that showed a 45% decline in office-based primary care physicians in high-poverty areas between 1963 and 1980. Bethesda, Md., a suburb of Washington, averaged one pediatrician for every 400 children, while the inner city of Washington averaged only one pediatrician for every 3,700 children. "How do we ...