Physician Workforce Study - May 2003

Download the full Physician Workforce Study (May 2003) (.pdf, 875 KB, 92 pages)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

At A-02, the House of Delegates adopted Report: 113, A-02 (A) Physician Workforce Study. With the help of prominent labor economists, the Committee completed a study that builds upon the results of the 2002 Physician Workforce Study. The results of the 2003 Study indicate the following:

• All fourteen specialties surveyed are currently experiencing extremely tight labor markets. As a result physicians have been forced to react to these labor market shortages by increasing work hours (48%), adjusting professional staffing (37%), and altering the services they provide (31%).
  
  
• Five specialties are experiencing a critical physician shortage -- Anesthesiology, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Neurosurgery, and Radiology. Three additional specialties are experiencing a severe shortage -- General Surgery, Orthopedics, and Vascular Surgery.
  
  
• Community hospitals are experiencing a much tighter labor market than teaching hospitals.
  
  
• Professional liability concerns are influencing physicians to contemplate career changes. This is particularly true within high-risk specialties such as OB/GYN and surgical sub-specialties.
  
  
• Thirty-two percent of practicing physician respondents are either planning on or considering leaving Massachusetts because of the current practice environment.
  
  
• The average number of months required to recruit a physician is roughly twelve; by specialty it ranges from eight months for emergency medicine to twenty-seven months for neurosurgery.
  
  
• Regional disparities in the labor market exist. This is particularly evident in the Springfield metropolitan area, where physician labor shortages are more acute.
  
  
• The MMS Index¹, which tracks the physician practice environment quantitatively, also indicates that physicians are facing a very difficult and challenging environment in which to care for their patients. 

The results of this report support the conclusions of the 2002 Physician Workforce Study in terms of recruitment, retention, and staffing concerns. In addition, this report contains additional information on professional liability, physician satisfaction, issues in community hospitals, and other topics that further reinforce the conclusion that the physician workforce in Massachusetts is experiencing a shortage.

¹ Massachusetts Medical Society Physician Practice Environment Index Report.