According to new data, an estimated 333,942 healthcare providers will have left the workforce by 2021, many of whom have left due to retirement, burnout and stressors directly related to the pandemic, according to new data.
By profession, doctors lost the most members, with 117,000 individuals leaving their roles last year, followed by nurses, who lost 53,295 members, and physician assistants, with 22,704 positions dropped. empty, according to a report released Thursday by Definitive Healthcare.
“The toll COVID-19 has taken on the country’s aging physician population,” said Todd Bellemare, senior vice president of strategic solutions for Definitive Healthcare, a trade. intelligence company.
“There is a current worry that it could fill as doctors retire or move out of the workforce,” says Bellemare. “The ability to get people involved in the healthcare profession, how do we make it easier?”
Internal medicine saw the largest departures of any physician specialty, losing 15,000 providers in 2021, compared with 13,015 leaving family practice and 10,874 in clinical psychology.
Other healthcare professionals who have left their roles include licensed physical therapists and clinical social workers.
In addition to working long hours that are unsustainable with fear of contagion and emotional damage to colleagues and deceased patients, many healthcare workers say they are dissatisfied with their roles because they cannot working properly with her license, Bellemare said.
“If you’re one of the best vascular researchers out there, but 20 percent of your time is spent doing administrative work, you’re exhausted,” he said. “What hospitals, health systems, physician groups, surgical centers and any kind of facility management should consider is ‘How do you hold your people and keep them happy? heart?’
Another sore point is the staffing shortages faced by rural hospitals and health systems, often because they don’t have the money or resources to compete with urban health centers that can. offer higher wages, sign-up bonuses and expanded benefits to retain workers. or hire traveling nurses and other contract workers, Bellemare said.
Of the states, South Carolina is experiencing the most severe hardship, with nearly 29% of hospitals experiencing severe staffing shortages, the report found. Georgia, Vermont, Delaware and Michigan are behind, with about 20% of hospitals in each state experiencing severe shortages.
In 2020, large hospitals with more than 250 beds spend an average of $11 million on contract workers, while facilities with 25 beds or less spend about $460,000.
Hospitals nationwide spent a total of about $97.3 million on staff and physician salaries in 2020, compared with $82.7 million in 2016, according to data from the Monthly Medicare Cost Report 10 year 2021.
