Physician Attrition on the Rise: A Growing Concern for Our Profession
- Oct 20
- 2 min read
The physician workforce in the United States is facing mounting pressure. Recent projections estimate a shortage of 36,500 physicians by 2036, and new data suggest that this trend is accelerating as more physicians choose to leave clinical practice altogether.
What the Data Show
A nationwide longitudinal study analyzing data from more than 712,000 physicians caring for Medicare patients between 2013 and 2022 revealed an important pattern. The rate of physicians leaving clinical practice increased from 3.5% in 2013 to 4.9% in 2019, a statistically significant rise that spans nearly every demographic group and specialty.
Attrition increased among both male and female physicians, in urban and rural areas, and across all age groups over 35.
Who Is Leaving and Why
In adjusted models, several factors stood out. Female physicians were more likely to leave clinical practice than their male counterparts. Rural physicians experienced higher attrition rates than those in urban settings. Physicians managing older, more complex patient populations, particularly those with higher average risk scores and greater proportions of dual-eligible beneficiaries, were also more likely to leave practice.
Although the study focused on Medicare fee-for-service data, the findings align with growing anecdotal reports from the field: burnout, administrative burdens, and the emotional demands of caring for complex patients continue to erode job satisfaction and professional longevity.
Why This Matters
Physician attrition has direct implications for workforce stability, access to care, and quality of patient outcomes. Each physician who steps away from clinical practice represents not only a personal loss of expertise but also a widening gap in patient care, especially in rural and underserved communities.
As a profession, we must address the systemic factors that make sustained clinical practice increasingly difficult. These include streamlining administrative processes to reduce non-clinical workload, expanding wellness and peer support programs to mitigate burnout, creating flexible and equitable work environments that support physicians at different career stages, and advocating for fair reimbursement models that reflect the complexity of patient care and the realities of modern practice.
The Path Forward
The rise in physician attrition is not simply a workforce statistic, it reflects the cumulative strain on the practice of medicine today. Sustaining the clinical workforce will require deliberate, coordinated action from institutions, policymakers, and physicians themselves.
By acknowledging these trends and advocating for meaningful change, we can work toward a future where physicians are supported, valued, and able to continue practicing the medicine that drew us to this profession in the first place.
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