SK&A, an Irvine, Calif.-based Cegedium firm that specializes in healthcare marketing information, compiles a database of 664,600 medical office-based physicians every year. In the last four years, the firm has published data on the physician “move rate,” which shows how many physicians have left their previous office location due to a move, retirement or death.
Data collected from March 2010-March 2011 showed an 11.3 percent move rate for the last year, a drop from 12.4 percent in 2010, 15 percent in 2009 and 18.2 percent in 2008. Researchers say the move rate could reflect the economy’s effect on physician lifestyle, as physicians choose to remain at their current practices as a result of financial stress, the medical liability environment and burdensome licensure laws.
The SK&A survey found that some physician specialties are more likely to retire or move than others. Physicians specializing in aerospace medicine had the highest move rate (27.9 percent) and plastic surgeons had the lowest (6.3 percent).
Read the American Medical News report on the SK&A survey.
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