Behind the physician licensure numbers: false impressions, retirement crisis, and migration

Clin Perform Qual Health Care. 1998 Jul-Sep;6(3):142-6.

Abstract

This communication examines the supply of primary-care physicians at the state level. It shows that the number of actively practicing physicians is considerably less than the number of licensed physicians; the age distribution of primary-care physicians has a bulge in the ages younger than 50, and this bulge may lead in the near future to an unexpected increase in physician attrition due to retirement; and, at the state level, migration may be playing the dominant role in determining the total supply of primary-care physicians.

MeSH terms

  • Age Distribution
  • Health Workforce
  • Licensure, Medical / statistics & numerical data
  • Licensure, Medical / trends*
  • Medically Underserved Area
  • Physicians, Family / supply & distribution*
  • Primary Health Care
  • Rural Health Services
  • Transients and Migrants
  • United States
  • Virginia