The New England Journal of Medicine has published a physician survey determining the impact of health reform on physicians and ultimately on medicine as we know it today.
The BLS (Bureau of Labor and Statistics) predicts a more than a 22% increase in physician jobs during the ten-year period ending in 2018. This places physician careers in the top 20 fastest-growing occupations from 2008 to 2018. Meanwhile, nearly one-third of physicians responding to this survey indicated that they will want to leave medical practice after health reform is implemented.
The Medicus Firm, a national physician search firm based in Dallas and Atlanta, conducted a survey of over 1,000 physicians to determine their expectations as to the impact of health reform on their practices, income, job satisfaction, and future career plans.
Although it's probably unrealistic that nearly half of the current practicing physicians will exit the medical practice industry after a version of health reform were implemented, even if a much smaller percentage such as 10, 15, or 20% are pushed out of practice over several years at a time when the field needs to expand by over 20%, this would be severely detrimental to the quality of the health care system.
The survey indicates that doctors do want change in our current healthcare system. Only approximately 4% of physicians surveyed feel that no reform is needed. However, only 28.7% of physicians responded in favor of a public option as part of health reform.
What does this mean for physician recruiting? It’s difficult to predict with absolute certainty, but one consequence is inevitable. After health reform is passed and implemented, physicians will be more in demand than ever before. Shortages could be exacerbated further beyond the predictions of industry analysts.
Read the full article in the New England Journal of Medicine, or click here:
http://www.nejmjobs.org/rpt/health-reform-may-reduce-physician-workforce.aspx
A Note to Readers of This Blog
12 years ago
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment