One in 10 needed physician roles go unfilled, according to Medicus Healthcare Solutions’ recently published “The Physician Workforce Under Pressure” white paper.
Here are five statistics, trends and data points that characterize the U.S. physician workforce and ongoing physician shortage, according to the whitepaper:
1. The highest concentration of physicians is in more populous states such as California, Texas and Florida as well as the Mid-Atlantic region.
2. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 3% job growth for physicians from 2024 to 2034, which translates to roughly 24,300 new jobs.
3. An estimated 165,000 physicians have worked as locum tenens at some point in their careers.
4. The estimated number of physicians who have participated in locum tenens by specialty includes:
- Internal & family medicine: 24,000
- Radiology: 15,000
- Emergency medicine: 13,000
- Anesthesiology: 5,500
5. Pediatrics, OB-GYN and surgery also see high locum tenens utilization rates. According to Medicus, this reflects an ongoing reliance on interim coverage to maintain continuity of care.
