The number of Indiana doctors leaving the profession is on the rise.
Almost 34-percent of the state’s physicians are within retirement range, and the state will be over 800 doctors short by 2030, according to the Cicero Institute.
Dr. Michael Suk, orthopedic surgeon and past president of the American Medical Association, points to other explanations for the decline.
He explains that an increasing amount of administrative burden is placed on physicians, and many spend a majority of their time fighting with prior authorization, documentation rules, and compliance requirements, rather than treating patients.
He characterizes burnout as being driven by these factors, not a lack of resilience among doctors.
“Today, only about 42% of physicians remain in private practice, which is down from 60% a decade ago”, he said. ” And I think that is largely driven by the fact that they’ve lost control over the decision-making process as larger hospital systems and private equity ownerships have started to expand.”
Suk adds that a broken Medicare payment system is another reason for the issue. Over the past 25 years, payments have fallen collectively by about 33-percent when adjusted for inflation. He says that erosion destabilizes practices, forces impossible volume pressures, and drains morale across almost every medical specialty.
The institute found Indiana’s physician-to-patient ratio is 23-percent – worse than the national average.
