Beyond that we (North American) have rules betters suited for an abundance of medial personnel, rather than a shortage: You need a regular doctor visit to renew benign drugs like Ventolin or Insulin, we have nurses cleaning up vomit instead of janitors, and licensed dental hygienists are not allowed to clean teeth unless they have a dentist on site [1]. Which would be fine, if we had doctor, nurse and dentists to spare, but they seem like comparatively easy things to fix if there's a shortage.

[1] http://thinkprogress.org/yglesias/2011/05/26/201125/legalize...