The migration of physicians and the local supply of practitioners: a five-year comparison

The overall distribution of physicians in the United States is uneven, with concentrations in urban areas while some rural places have proportionately very few. This report examines the movement of physicians who have completed their training and choose to move from one location to another.

The analysis linked the locations of practice of physicians practicing in the 50 U.S. states in 2006 and 2011 using data from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile. Age, gender, location practice, activity status, and specialty were included in the data. Physicians who changed address in the five-year period were identified and were compared with nonmovers using descriptive statistics. A summary logistic regression of movers compared with nonmovers was performed to assess the most important correlates of migration.

The overall rate of county-to-county relocation for physicians was 19.8% for the five-year period 2006-2011. Analyses indicated that older, male, and urban physicians were less likely to move; that physicians with osteopathic training were more likely to move; and that surgeons and primary care physicians were less likely to move compared with other specialists.

The physician workforce in the United States migrates from place to place, and this movement determines the local supply of practitioners at any given time. Programs that intend to influence the local supply of doctors should account for this background tendency to relocate practice in order to achieve goals of more equal geographic distribution.