Pediatricians and family physicians: future competition for child patients?

The specialties of family practice and pediatrics, as well as the numbers of nonphysician child health practitioners, are growing much faster than is the population of children. Current figures suggest that the aggregate supply of practitioners is already adequate and will be in excess by 1990. These overall statements, however, mask the fact that physicians are unevenly dispersed and that substantial numbers of children have unmet medical care needs. If present trends in practice content and geographic preference continue, the outlook is for direct competition for patients between the specialties in many locations. Major factors that could influence the character of the competitive responses include differences in practice content amd location, public and private financing for time spent addressing psychosocial and behavioral problems, changes in Medicaid affecting participation by office-based physicians, and subspecialization trends within both specialties.