PHYSICIANS LEAVING PRACTICE AT ALARMING RATE
It’s no secret that physicians are leaving practice at a rate that should concern us all. Articles are published nearly every day about physician burnout and the toll it takes on the population of practitioners. Doctors are retiring, quitting, or altering their career paths frequently, leaving patients either unattended or “cared for” by physicians whose work ethic doesn’t match up with the demands of practice.
To demonstrate this concern in real numbers, Medscape published excerpts from an article in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the journal of the American College of Physicians. A group of 7 doctors from San Francisco evaluated 712,395 physicians, mostly (70.8%) male and mostly (90.8%) urban practitioners, who represented a broad range of specialties, to see what percentage left practice over a 7-year time frame. To qualify as leaving clinical practice, these physicians could not re-enter practice for at least 3 years.
The 7-year period began in 2013 and ended in 2019. In 2013, 3.5% of doctors left clinical practice. Over the ensuing 7 years, the number leaving gradually increased to where in 2019, the percentage rose to 4.9%, a 36% increase. The emphasis of this study was to merely express this phenomenon in numbers and not to explore why physicians quit. No reasons for this increase were cited.
They did state that female physicians had a higher risk of leaving practice and physicians practicing in a rural setting were more likely, as well. The highest numbers leaving specialty-wise were psychiatrists, primary care physicians, and obstetrician-gynecologists.
Also, physicians who cared for older and/or high-risk patients had a significantly higher risk of leaving as did practices with a heavy Medicare and Medicaid population base. To learn physicians are leaving practice at high rates is disconcerting.
Dr. G’s Opinion: My suspicion why physicians are leaving clinical practice in increasing numbers is because of poor reimbursement from especially Medicare, and the multiple obstacles these entities impose that make it difficult for doctors to administer timely, efficient care and to get paid for doing it. What payment is received is usually pennies on the dollars billed making it difficult to keep the practice financially stable. This problem is ever-worsening without any hope of getting better.
References: Rai A. Increase in Physicians Walking Away From Clinical Practice. Medscape 2025 October 15.
Rotenstein LS, et al (6) Trends and Predictors of Physician Attrition from Clinical Practice Across Specialties Ann Int Med 2025 October 7.
