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Older
Doctors stay on job amid Primary Care
Shortage
[Jun 25, 2009] The shortage in primary care
doctors is causing older doctors to stay on
the job while young ones opt for
specialties.
In the U.S., there are at least 4,500
primary care doctors older than 75,
according to figures from the Physicians
Masterfile database maintained by the
American Medical Association.
MSNBC reports: "There are not enough
general care doctors to meet current needs,
let alone the demands of some 46 million
uninsured, who threaten to swamp the system.
It's a problem growing worse ... where more
aging doctors are finding they can't retire.
Overall, there are about 270,000 doctors
practicing primary care, which includes
family, general medicine and internal
medicine.
As younger doctors increasingly choose the
better pay and balanced lifestyle promised
by specialty practice, older doctors,
especially in poor and rural areas, are
working longer, reluctant to abandon their
clients -- but unable to find new care for
them."
"Nearly 50 years ago, half of the doctors in
the U.S. were general practitioners. Now,
they make up less than a third of the
physician workforce, according to studies by
the American Academy of Family Physicians
...
“If
current trends continue, the U.S. will be
short by about 125,000 family care doctors
by 2020, according to Dr. Ted Epperly,
president of the AAFP board. He estimated
that the U.S. needs between 40 percent and
50 percent more family practice doctors than
the nearly 100,000 working now."
MSNBC also highlights the issue of
compensation: "The median annual wage for a
family physician last year was about
$190,000, according to a survey by the
American Medical Group Association, a
physician search firm.
“In contrast, a dermatologist earned nearly
$345,000 and an orthopedic surgeon earned
about $450,000. The difference is driven
largely by Medicare-related reimbursement
rates, which pay more to doctors who perform
specific procedures than to doctors who
diagnose and treat general illness" (Aleccia,
6/24).
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