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The impact of physician turnover can be costly and disruptive; consider some ways to reduce it.
FOR WELL OVER A DECADE IT HAS BEEN RECognized that the United States will experience a significant physician shortage in the near future.1 The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) estimates that by 2020 the United States will face a shortage of 91,500 physicians, and by 2025 the shortage will grow to 130,600 physicians.
In addition to the growing physician shortage, it appears that physicians are moving away from independent practice environments to being employed by hospitals or health systems. Between 2012 and 2013, solo practitioners decreased from 21 percent of the total physician workforce to 15 percent, while during this same time frame hospital employed physicians increased from 20 percent to 26 percent.2
The loss of solo practice appears to be accelerating. Some data shows that physician ownership of practices has declined from 75.8 percent in 1983 to 53.2 percent in 2012, but authors of the study suggested that private practice remains strong.3
In addition to the apparent changing dynamics of physician practice, the health care sector is facing increasing public and regulatory concerns about the cost and quality of the care it provides. With the growing demand for high-value health care by the patients, the ability to control costs and at the same time improve the quality of care, physician engagement is becoming critically important to health care organizations.
Based on these changing dynamics, the issue of physician turnover should concern hospitals and systems of care because of the potentially negative impact turnover can have on profitability and the quality of care.
An article in Health Care Management Review noted that the financial impact of employee turnover occurs in three specific areas:
* Hiring costs.
* Training costs.
* Productivity losses.4
The costs of hiring new physicians might include advertising for open positions, travel, interviewing and moving expenses. The training costs might include time and personal costs spent during orientation of the new physician. These costs involve training in the organization's electronic medical record system and the time spent in understanding the organization's policies and procedures.
The impact of loss of productivity occurs both at the front and back ends of the...