“As students assume more debt, they will make choices driven by the need to pay it back,” says Dr. Weiss. “Changes in payment for rheumatologists may mean we are not as well compensated financially. Although rheumatology remains very rewarding professionally and personally, at some point, students with a higher level of debt will make career choices based on what is economically sound for them in their situation.” It is possible, perhaps even probable, that some who might have chosen rheumatology with less debt will now go into other specialties, such as those that are more lucrative.
Nobody really thinks that these problems will go away with the end of the current fiscal year. How the university hierarchies and the state legislature decide to implement next year’s budget may hold the key to how badly medicine in general—and rheumatology in particular—is hurt in the future.
“If the furloughs are short lived, I don’t think there will be a long-lasting effect,” says Dr. Firestein. “Currently there is a light at the end of the tunnel. If cuts like these continue after August 31, we are jeopardizing the future of the university.
“However, if the response is to continue with furloughs and similar measures to make up the shortfall, people will end up taking appointments at places where they aren’t faced with these concerns,” Dr. Firestein continued. “The way they manage the issues going forward will impact on how rank-and-file faculty and staff see the future of UC and their own future at UC.”
Kurt Ullman is a freelance writer based in Indiana.
