Constraining the supply of physicians: effects on black physicians.

Although there is still dispute about the "surplus" of physicians, federal policies have begun to constrain the number of new entrants. Black students have been especially affected by retrenchment of federal support to education and by eroding medical school commitments to equity. Such trends undercut the demonstrable preference of black students to practice in geographic and specialty areas of greatest need. Better preparation for entry into medical school, and support through the long educational process, are necessary to preserve and extend the gains in both equity and health begun in the mid-1960s.