Research ArticleOriginal Research

When Do Primary Care Physicians Retire? Implications for Workforce Projections

Stephen M. Petterson, William F. Rayburn and Winston R. Liaw
The Annals of Family Medicine July 2016, 14 (4) 344-349; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.1936

Article Figures & Data

Figures

  • Figure 1
    Figure 1

    Practice status of primary care physicians aged 50 to 90 years as reported in the 2014 American Medical Association Physician Masterfile.

    Note: The “Other Activities” category includes physicians not in clinical practice but professionally active in other ways (for example, in teaching, administration, or research); the “Dropped” category is made up of physicians who were listed in earlier years of AMA Physician Masterfile data but absent from the 2014 dataset. Data are derived from the AMA Physician Masterfile datasets for the years 2009 through 2014.13

  • Figure 2
    Figure 2

    Percentage of primary care physicians involved in direct patient care who had a National Provider Identifier number in 2008, by sex and age.

    Data are derived from the AMA Physician Masterfile dataset for 2008 and from National Plan and Provider Enumeration System data for 2008.

  • Figure 3
    Figure 3

    Percentage of primary care physicians remaining in practice, by age and sex.

  • Figure 4
    Figure 4

    Median ages of retirement from clinical activity and from all professional activity for selected specialties, with interquartile ranges.

Tables

  • Table 1

    Median and Interquartile Range of Retirement Ages of Physicians from Either Direct Patient Care or Any Activity, By Specialty, Sex, and Practice Location, 2010–2013

    Primary Care PhysiciansFamily PhysiciansGeneral InternistsGeneral Pediatricians
    NMedian Age (IQR)NMedian Age (IQR)NMedian Age (IQR)NMedian Age (IQR)
    Retirement from direct patient care
    All298,25464.9 (61.4–68.3)94,51165.1 (61.6–68.4)114,82265.6 (61.8–69.3)63,30565.7 (62.1–69.1)
    Sex
     Female74,72464.0 (60.8–67.3)18,97364.6 (61.2–67.9)24,77864.5 (61.0–68.0)25,94464.8 (61.5–68.0)
     Male223,52665.0 (61.5–68.4)75,53765.1 (61.6–68.4)90,04265.8 (62.0–69.4)37,36166.0 (62.4–69.4)
    Practice location
     Rural41,09965.2 (61.6–68.5)20,24865.3 (61.9–68.7)11,43066.3 (62.3–69.7)4,69866.0 (62.2–69.0)
     Urban248,82565.0 (61.4–68.5)72,93465.1 (61.6–68.5)101,20565.7 (61.9–69.4)56,66065.9 (62.2–69.3)
    Year
     201071,07864.7 (61.2–68.1)21,72364.9 (61.3–68.3)27,18165.4 (61.8–69.0)15,20465.4 (61.8–68.8)
     201173,41564.9 (61.4–68.3)23,01565.2 (61.7–68.6)28,16065.8 (62.0–69.3)15,64065.6 (62.1–69.0)
     201275,77465.1 (61.5–68.6)24,29865.3 (61.9–69.0)29,27965.8 (61.9–69.4)16,01766.0 (62.4–69.5)
     201377,98764.7 (61.2–68.2)25,47564.8 (61.5–68.0)30,20265.4 (61.5–69.2)16,44465.9 (62.2–69.2)
    Retirement from any activity
    All398,48366.1 (62.6–69.5)132,45066.7 (63.2–70.1)154,18967.0 (63.4–70.5)79,96266.6 (63.2–70.1)
    Sex
     Female100,44065.2 (61.9–68.5)26,62966.2 (62.7–69.8)33,80966.0 (62.5–69.5)33,52965.7 (62.4–69.0)
     Male298,03766.2 (62.7–69.6)105,81966.7 (63.2–70.1)120,37767.0 (63.5–70.5)46,43366.9 (63.4–70.3)
    Practice location
     Rural52,82466.4 (63.0–69.7)27,05467.0 (63.6–70.3)14,42067.4 (63.9–70.7)5,64066.8 (63.4–69.9)
     Urban333,19266.3 (62.7–69.7)102,90366.8 (63.3–70.3)136,26867.1 (63.4–70.6)71,37866.8 (63.3–70.3)
    Year
     201093,85565.8 (62.4–69.2)30,30866.5 (62.9–69.8)35,85266.6 (63.1–70.1)19,04166.4 (63.0–69.7)
     201197,78366.0 (62.6–69.4)32,22166.6 (63.1–69.9)37,60466.8 (63.3–70.5)19,72866.6 (63.2–70.1)
     2012101,45966.3 (62.7–69.7)34,04366.9 (63.4–70.4)39,44267.1 (63.5–70.6)20,29966.8 (63.2–70.2)
     2013105,38666.2 (62.7–69.7)35,87866.9 (63.4–70.3)41,29167.2 (63.5–70.5)20,89466.8 (63.2–70.3)

    • IQR = interquartile range (25th–75th Percentile)

    • Note: Data are derived from the AMA Physician Masterfile datasets for the years 2010 through 2014.13

Additional Files

  • The Article in Brief

    When Do Primary Care Physicians Retire? Implications for Workforce Projections

    Stephen M. Petterson , and colleagues

    Background Retirement of primary care physicians (PCPs) is becoming a matter of increasing concern in light of physician shortages. This study examines the ages at which the majority of PCPs retire and compares retirement ages across primary care specialties.

    What This Study Found The average retirement age of about 65 years varies little by specialty, practice location, or gender. These findings suggest that changes in the composition of the primary care workforce will not have a remarkable impact on overall retirement rates in the near future. Females have a median retirement about one year earlier than males. There is no substantive difference in retirement ages between rural and urban primary care physicians.

    Implications

    • The authors suggest that strategies to lengthen careers, including quality-of-life accommodations such as a reduction in full-time work, weekend work, or on-call requirements, would be worthwhile for policymakers to explore.
Back to top

In this issue

Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Email Article
Citation Tools
Get Permissions

Jump to section

Subjects

Keywords