The demographic dimensions of health manpower policy.

THE IMMINENT EXPIRATION of the Health Professions Educational Assistance Act of 1976 (Public Law 94484) has refocused discussion among Federal officials upon the direction that health manpower policy should now take. As affected parties, State Governments and health professions schools are assessing their priorities and formulating positions on the issues that will be debated. Although items for the immediate agenda relate to the short-term continuation or modification of existing programs, there is an awareness that the health service needs of the future may require policies designed to increase the present scale of health manpower activities, to reduce these activities, or to pursue very different directions. Since the characteristics of the population are the major determinant of the scale and scope of health service needs, the first logical question is, What are the implications of current demographic trends for health manpower policy?