More than 850,000 physicians were licensed to practice in 2010. But with the baby boomer generation retiring and an estimated 32 million Americans getting insured through the Affordable Care Act, projections estimate that as many as 130,000 new physicians will be needed by 2025.

Why not eliminate this anachronistic charade of the general practitioner and use nurse practitioners and physician assistants to fill the gap? This is already happening in rural areas, which sometimes lack even a single primary care physician.

When you visit your physician -- or general practitioner -- what usually happens? They usually give you a referral. Even if you don't have the type of insurance that requires referrals, if you have anything that requires a skill set beyond giving a flu shot, you will be referred elsewhere.

With the current and impending shortage of MDs and the increasing openness to natural medicine in the general population, NDs should be high on the list of providers to bridge the gap in our imminent provider shortage.

The physician shortage problem is well-documented and should not come as a surprise to anyone. But while a scarcity of gasoline or smartphones would grip the nation, this far more dangerous shortage has drawn relatively little attention.