Primary care services improve healthcare outcomes and limit unnecessary specialty care. Thus, it is essential to monitor primary care physician demand and supply projections to suggest evidence-based healthcare reforms and promote better healthcare delivery. This study evaluates 28 demand variables, 50 supply variables, and 26 additional variables associated with the demand and supply projections of physicians by reviewing scenarios from other countries, including Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, and the United States of America. The results indicate that Korea uses less diverse demand and supply indicators and suggest the need to implement variables used in the other four countries to improve projection modeling.

Citations

• A year of significant progress for the Korean Journal of Family Medicine
  Seung-Won Oh
  Korean Journal of Family Medicine.2026; 47(1): 1.     CrossRef
• What is the optimal number of physicians for a sustainable healthcare system?
  Seung-Won Oh
  Korean Journal of Family Medicine.2025; 46(1): 1.     CrossRef
• Rushed health workforce reform in South Korea: a Kingdon’s multiple streams framework analysis of the 2024 medical school quota expansion
  Yuri Lee, Hyun-Young Shin
  Frontiers in Public Health.2025;[Epub]     CrossRef