A report published Thursday by Definitive Healthcare found that nearly 334,000 health care providers—including 117,000 physicians—left the workforce in 2021, with many citing burnout and pandemic-related stressors, Mari Devereaux writes for Modern Healthcare.
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Report findings and key details
In the report, commercial intelligence firm Definitive Healthcare estimated that 333,942 health care providers left the workforce due to retirement, burnout, and other pandemic-related stressors.
Overall, physicians experienced the largest loss, with 117,000 departures in 2021, followed by nurse practitioners, with 53,295 departures, and physician assistants, with 22,704 departures.
Among physician specialties, internal medicine saw the most departures, losing 15,000 providers in 2021, followed by 13,015 providers who left family practice, and 10,874 who left clinical psychology.
The report also found that many physical therapists and licensed clinical social workers left their roles in 2021.
The report found that South Carolina experienced the highest level of staffing shortages, with almost 29% of hospitals reporting a critical staffing shortage. Similarly, about 20% of hospitals in Georgia, Vermont, Delaware, and Michigan, experienced critical staffing shortages in 2021.
What might be driving departures?
Covid-19 has taken a toll on the United States' aging physician population—which is especially concerning since providers in most specialties are generally between 50 and 60 years old, said Todd Bellemare, SVP of strategic solutions at Definitive Healthcare.
"There is the current worry of being able to backfill as physicians retire or move out of the workforce," Bellemare said. "The ability for people to get into the healthcare profession, how do we make that easier?"
According to Bellemare, many health care workers said they were less satisfied in their roles because they aren't working at the top of their licenses.
"If you're one of the best pulmonologists there is, but 20% of your time is spent doing administrative tasks, then you're going to get burnt out," he said. "The thing that hospitals, health systems, physician groups, surgery centers, and any type of facility management should be looking at is, 'How do you hold tight to your people and make them happy?'"
Bellemare also noted that many rural hospitals and health systems experienced high levels of staffing shortages, which were often driven by a lack of money or resources to compete with urban health systems that can provide higher salaries, sign-on bonuses, and additional benefits to attract and retain workers or hire contract workers.
"In 2020, large hospitals with more than 250 beds spent an average of $11 million on contract labor, versus facilities with 25 beds or fewer spending about $460,000," Devereaux writes.
Data from the October 2021 Medicare cost report found that hospitals spent a total of $97.3 million on worker and physician salaries in 2020, compared with $82.7 million in 2016. (Devereaux, Modern Healthcare, 10/20)