Projected Physician Shortage

Predictions show that by 2025, our physician workforce is not going to be large enough to meet the demand. According to a 2013 report prepared for the Association of American Medical Colleges, or AAMC, there are 767,100 physicians who are actively practicing that have completed their graduate medical education, and are under the age of 75. Of these physicians 26% are between age 55 and 65 years old, meaning many of them will retire over the next 10 years. This could remove almost 30% of our physician work force. In addition, the amount of physicians completing their graduate medical education each year, around 29,000, is remaining the same. Another factor for these predictions is that younger physicians, in the millennial’s generation, are more likely to prefer to work fewer hours than physician’s from older generations. Census data shows that male physicians between 26 and 35 worked 5.3 hours less each week in 2011 than the demographic in 1980. While those 35 and over worked about the same amount. 

The study projects that 46, 100 to possibly 90,400 less physicians will be working in 2025, than the projected supply requires.