Table 1.

Priority 1: Appropriate size, specialty mix, and geographic composition of the physician workforce

Interventions	Benefits to the health care system (relevant social accountability values)	Strategies to effect change
Ensure appropriate size, specialty mix, and skill set of the physician workforce	Improved access to care for all individuals; improved population health (relevance, equity) [3]	System: Top-down government control of specialty choice; national/state/provincial funding incentives for training generalista physicians Accreditation: Standards that require curricula and learning experiences related to improving population health Institution and program: Institutions and programs with a mission to train generalist physicians Individual: Educational debt forgiveness or incentive payments for individuals selecting generalist specialties
Optimize geographic distribution of physicians	Access to care and improved population health for rural and underserved inner-city populations (relevance, equity) [3]	System: Top-down governmental control of health care; national/state/provincial funding incentives for training physicians for rural and underserved locations Institution and program: Institutions and programs with a mission to prepare physicians for practice in rural and underserved areas Individual: Educational debt forgiveness or incentive payments for individuals practising in rural or underserved areas
Reduce “brain drain” through international medical migration	Enhanced retention of physician workforce in nations with physician shortages; increased international equity and fairness (relevance, equity) [3]	Global systems: WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel [10]

^aGeneralist specialties include primary care specialties and other general specialties in short supply, such as psychiatry and surgery