Shasta County Health Officer Dr. James Mu declared that the county’s doctor shortage, a reality for years in the North State, now constitutes a public health crisis.
In a statement released Wednesday, June 11, Mu said: “If no action is taken, this crisis will deepen. As more physicians retire and fewer take their place, the healthcare system in Shasta County will continue to lose stability, threatening the long-term health and well being of our residents.”
The Record Searchlight/Redding.com reached out to Mu after he made his announcement so he could shed light on what he expected to come from his declaration.
Since then, the Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency launched its Access to Health Care Providers Survey to gauge residents’ needs, asking, “Is there a shortage of doctors in Shasta County?” The survey, which closes June 20, asks about travel distances, waiting lists and how long it takes residents with a practioner to get an appointment to see them.
Also, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors is debating whether to establish a local medical school to grow the number of North State physicians and local health officials are warning that federal spending cuts proposed for the Medicaid health insurance program covering low-income and disabled people will hurt patient care if approved.
Here are some perspectives from Mu, who took over as the county’s top doctor in October 2023.
After wildfires or other disasters, governments can issue emergency declarations so public funds can be used for recovery efforts. What does declaring a public health crisis enable Shasta County to do?
First of all, this is a declaration of crisis, not an emergency. Emergency would be a completely different situation. I’m hoping that … this will ignite the discussion and unite the community to find a common solution to our problem.
And from a legal standpoint, I don’t know what that will do. In an emergency situation, we could certainly ask state and federal to help us in terms of … bringing doctors to the area. With a crisis, I think it elevates our needs, perhaps. And again, my goal is to really notify the community that this is not getting better and we should really do something about it.
Did you declare a doctor shortage at this time to solidify support for a local medical school since the issue is in the public eye?
Yes, I just want the whole community, whether it’s a private citizen or government agents or the health care clinic or hospital, that we should get together and try to solve this problem. Again, ultimately my goal is to have more physicians come to our area and keep them here. Again, whether that’s through a residency program, medical school or medical school and residency program, it really doesn’t matter to me. My ultimate goal is to have more health care access to our area. Waiting for a year and a half to see a doctor that is — well, it’s not right and it’s not a good health care.
Can you speak about the issue of medical access?
Just out of curiosity, I did an informal survey in my work, just on this side of the building. I just asked people, employees here, whether they have their own personal physician or primary care physician. I would say about 30% to 35% of employees here do not have a regular doctor. And that’s with fairly good county health insurance. So to me, that’s appalling.
And when I announced that I would become public health officer, some of my (private practice) patients at the time, they started looking for other physicians. And one of them reported back to me, they said, ‘nobody’s accepting new patients except one or two doctors. And for them, it’s a year or a year and a half waiting list’ and that’s untenable.
What is your opinion on whether opening a medical school in our region would help recruit physicians to our area?
My ultimate goal is to have more doctors or physicians present and practice here in Shasta County. And if that could be achieved with a medical school, or that could be achieved with more residency programs, or that could be achieved with combination of a medical school and residency program, I’m all for it.
And as you know, a lot of the doctors, they go to where they grew up, especially if there’s a medical school in their hometown. So that would really help retain the physicians. And that will be an endless supply of physicians in our area. And we don’t have to worry about the situation again and we’ll have other things to worry about, but perhaps not about a doctor shortage. So yes, I’m for medical school. I’m for residency. I’m for a combination; anything that would recruit or retain the physicians in town.
How many doctors do we have and how many more do we need?
I’ve been looking for data for that. The last one, the last good one was almost 10 years ago, a local analysis in 2016, that was about 400 doctors. And I suspect that we need a minimum of 50 doctors to 100 doctors right now. That’s not counting doctors that are retiring.
I don’t think the exact number is that important. It’s how accessible health care is to our community. And I know patients are waiting for a long time. I know a lot of people are unable to find a regular physician. To me, that’s more important that the actual number.
Have you been able to recruit a physician to take over your private practice?
That was my biggest concern leaving my practice — what am I going to do with my three, four, maybe up to 5,000 patients? And I knew that they were going to have a hard time finding physicians. So there were many, many sleepless nights of whether I’m going to get a physician or not. But God has been very good to me. So I had a physician take over my practice. Dr. Asghar Ali took over my practice on Jan. 1 and that was through long prayer and some very difficult times.
Michele Chandler covers public safety, dining and whatever else comes up for the Redding Record Searchlight/USA Today Network. Accepts story tips at 530-338-7753 and at mrchandler@gannett.com. Please support our entire newsroom’s commitment to public service journalism by subscribing today.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Doctor shortage in Shasta County is ‘public health crisis.’ A Q&A with James Mu
Reporting by Michele Chandler, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
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