Many people worry that the retirement of primary care physicians is a threat to their health and well being. These people can breathe a sigh of relief now. Recent research has suggested that the retirement rate of primary care physicians is steady despite several changes in policy and economy.
The Study Revealing the Steady Retirement Rate of Primary Care Physicians
The study was carried out by the researchers of the Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care. The main aim of the study was to find whether the retirement rate of primary care physicians would be a cause of worry for the retiring baby boomers or not. The study was named as When Do Primary Care Physicians Retire? Implications for Workforce Projections. The vital study was published in the Annals of Family Medicine. It was published in the July/August issue.
The Main Revelations
The key revelation done by the study was that the primary care physicians who retired during the time frame of 2010- 2014 were more than 65 years of age on an average. The report also clearly stated that it did not support the suggestion from the anecdotal reports that state the physicians are retiring early due to the burden of latest federal regulations. The disagreement seems genuine as the data for the latter study was gathered during 2010-2014 when most of the federal regulations were introduced.
The report offered by the Robert Graham Center stated that there was no evidence that the primary care physicians were delaying retirement due to the recent economic downturns.
The Percentage Changes
The percentage of retired physicians has increased to 12 percent for those aged 65 or more from 4 percent for those who are aged 60 years. At the age of 50 years, almost all the primary care physicians were working in teaching, research, administration or direct patient care.
The Gap
The researchers at the Robert Graham Center used the 2014 AMA Physician Masterfile to discover about 78,000 primary care physicians who were between the ages of 55 and 80 and were clinically active. The researchers of Robert Graham Center could not identify the actual number of physicians who are retired as there is a huge gap between the numbers of physicians who are listed to be active as per the AMA database and the number listed in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System. The Physicians had joined NPPES in the year 2008 for billing purposes.
The research done by is a relief for retirees and people planning to retire the steady retirement rate of primary care physicians means that they would have access to better quality of healthcare.
