New York City-based Weill Cornell Medicine researchers found that the annual rate for physician turnover increased by 43 percent between 2010 and 2018, though it decreased slightly in 2020.
The study, published July 11 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, analyzed Medicare data on provider practice and specialty to develop a method to estimate turnover. Physician data included age, sex, specialty and tax identification numbers of the practices where physicians worked. The data allowed researchers to create an algorithm that estimated physician turnover from 2010 through the first three quarters of 2020.
Here are three other study findings:
- The annual rate of turnover increased from 5.3 percent to 7.2 percent between 2010 and 2014, then increased again in 2018 to 7.6 percent.
- In the first three quarters of 2020, there were slightly lower rates of turnover compared to corresponding quarters in 2019.
- Between 2010 and 2014, physicians who stopped practicing increased from 1.6 percent to 3.1 percent, and physicians moving increased from 3.7 percent to 4.2 percent.