NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – A statewide doctor shortage is increasing wait times for New Mexico patients. This year, dermatology wait times reached record highs, and medical groups warn delays will continue to grow without legislative action.

“Many of the doctors who are here are tired; they’re overworked. They need some help. We need to recruit more doctors into this state, and if we don’t take action right now, I think you know it’s not too outlandish to think about it: a collapse of the medical system.”

That’s according to retina surgeon Dr. Nathaniel Roybal, who spends his spare time as a physician advocate, working with communities and lawmakers to find ways to incentivize doctors to stay in — and come to — New Mexico. He said doctors around the state believe it is risky to practice here because it is easy to be sued for medical malpractice, which he calls the major driver behind the doctor shortage.

Roybal is a former president of the Greater Albuquerque Medical Association and a councilor for the New Mexico Medical Society. He warned that the state’s health care system is at a crisis point — and that New Mexican patients and their loved ones are the ones who suffer most. “In this state, in this healthcare system, the most vulnerable are always the poor. Always the sick. It just is,” said Roybal. “And if you can’t take care of 100% of New Mexicans, I worry that the ones that will be taken care of are the ones that have insurance that can afford to be taken care of.”

A prime example of the shortage is the dermatology department at UNM Hospital, which sent a memo to providers about six months ago.

The memo reads, “due to a critical shortage of dermatologists at UNMH,” wait lists for new patient appointments have reached an unprecedented one to one-and-a-half years. The UNM dermatology department said it is still only accepting referrals for urgent cases. “Obviously, that’s concerning if you are the New Mexican who has a dermatologic problem and needs to see a physician,” Roybal said.

In a statement to KRQE News 13, UNMH said that since the memo was sent, additional doctors have been hired, with two more expected to join next year. The hospital said it has expanded e-consults, is holding free walk-in skin cancer screenings in rural areas, and has reduced the number of patients waiting for an appointment by nearly 50%.

UNMH is not the only health care group working to close the gap. Dr. Denise A. Gonzales, medical director for Presbyterian Medical Group, said Presbyterian Hospital has some promising developments planned for the new year. She said the shortage of dermatologic care providers has been an issue for a long time, particularly in New Mexico, where UV exposure risk is high.

Presbyterian has never had a full-scale dermatology department like UNM’s and has often referred patients to UNM and community dermatologists for Mohs surgeries. Gonzales said that over the past few years, Presbyterian has brought teledermatology to Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis, New Mexico.

She said thanks to that program, dermatologists can evaluate Albuquerque patients while they are home, and if a biopsy is needed, they can have it done in Presbyterian facilities. “That’s just a very small amount of increase in services that we’ve been able to do in the last two years, recognizing that there is a shortage of dermatology services throughout the state.”

The Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation recently announced it is launching its first full-service dermatology clinic, funded by a $2.5 million gift from Ellen and Jim King to the newly formed “King Fund for Dermatology.”

“In the fall of 2026 is when we expect to have our clinic fully open and staffed with physicians and PA’s who can do the full breadth of treatments and diagnoses so they can treat things like acne and skin cancers, they can treat it with light therapy and lasers, and can cut things out if they need to be cut out,” Gonzales said.

She said the long-term goal is to expand those services across Presbyterian’s regional centers by connecting patients to experts in Albuquerque through telemedicine. “So, it’s as easy as putting a camera on it and talking to that expert in Albuquerque to then decide on what the next steps should be,” Gonzales said.

Still, medical professionals said meaningful change must happen at the legislative level. Many welcomed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s decision to include medical malpractice reform in the call for the upcoming 30-day legislative session.

UNM’s statement and Dr. Roybal said the issue extends far beyond dermatology. “That’s the problem, not just playing out in dermatology, it’s playing out in ophthalmology and internal medicine, and family practice, and you name it,” Roybal said.

UNMH said it could not provide a current estimate for new patient wait times, citing the difficulty of projecting timelines while working through existing patient lists.

While the New Mexico Medical Society and the Greater Albuquerque Medical Association said medical malpractice reform should be the top priority, some lawmakers are pushing to broaden the discussion. Proposals include increasing residency slots and changing the gross receipts tax rule that requires physicians to pay taxes on payments received for medical services.

There is also disagreement over data. Think New Mexico, a local think tank, reports that New Mexico has one of the nation’s highest rates of medical malpractice lawsuits. And that the state lost more physicians between 2019-2024 than any other state in the country. However, Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Joseph Cervantes (D-Las Cruces) said during a recent radio interview that the data is false.

Dr. Roybal, however, stands by Think New Mexico’s data and adding he’s always willing to take anyone to the CMS.gov website (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) to walk people through it. He also suggested lawmakers who are also trial lawyers, such as Sen. Cervantes, should recuse themselves from both the discussion and votes on the issue due to a conflict of interest.

Roybal said he is confident New Mexico communities will unite to make their voices heard, calling the issue a generational fight that will shape the state’s future. He believes a balance can be found that protects patients while incentivizing doctors. “Doctors want their patients to be whole. We don’t want it to be impossible to ever sue, or if there was somebody who did something nefarious that was just terrible and hurt somebody, we want that person to be taken care of, their future medical to be covered, we want them to make sure they’re compensated for something that happened that was terrible,” Roybal said. “We also have to recognize, on the other hand, the number of people that happens to is between .1 and .01 percent of the population. And so when you have a law that’s overly protective in that situation and really stretches it allows for hundreds of millions of lawsuits in a single suit, it no longer serves the greater good.”

Dr. Gonzales said addressing the shortage will require multiple solutions. “Things like tort reform are important and the cost of medical malpractice, but it’s also important to make sure that Medicare and Medicaid have appropriate funding levels that we make it easy for people to obtain licenses in this state,” Gonzales said.

She added that New Mexico does not participate in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. “That’s a very difficult nut to crack, because it’s not as simple as just join the compact. There are downsides and risks to that as well,” she said.

Gonzales closed with a personal note, saying she wants better access to care for her mother in rural New Mexico. She emphasized the need for sustained effort beyond legislative sessions. “It has to be continuous. It has to be multifaceted, and it’s got to be something where we’re moving the ball along all the time. And we can’t give up on it, because it impacts so many things about New Mexico,” Gonzales said.