S teph Berend’s seven-year-old son has a speech disorder and sensory issues. But her efforts to see a specialist near their home in Spokane, Wash., have been stymied. Her child has been on waitlists at two different practices for more than a year, and is now on two others that are 15 months long. While Berend’s son waits to see a pediatric neurologist, he is suffering from uncontrolled muscle movements and sounds, and bullying at school, says Berend, a dental hygienist.
It’s a problem parents face across America: a shortage of pediatricians, and especially pediatric specialists. Medical students aren’t going into pediatrics at high rates, and that’s leading to coverage gaps. According to one study, about 8% fewer medical students went into pediatrics in 2020 than in 2015, while other specialties have seen big increases. In 2024, about 30% of pediatric residency programs did not fill open positions. As a result, says Sallie Permar, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, “children don’t have timely access to high-quality care, especially when they have chronic or complex disease.”
One big reason that doctors aren’t going into pediatrics is money. Although pediatricians undergo the same amount of training as other doctors—and sometimes more—they are paid up to 25% less than other kinds of doctors, Permar says. Medical students, who average about $200,000 of debt, may look at pediatrics and wonder how they’ll be able to get out of debt, afford a house, or raise their own children…