Becker's ASC Review

97 HEALTHCARE NEWS US physician shortage could hit 124,000 in 13 years & more stats to know By Patsy Newitt H ospitals employed 49.3 percent of phy- sicians by January 2021, up 5 percent from January 2019. Here are seven takeaways from recent studies involving physicians: 1. Nearly four in 10 U.S. physicians have side gigs, according to a new report from Medscape. 2, e U.S. could face a shortage of 37,800 to 124,000 physicians by 2034, according to data released by the Association of Ameri- can Medical Colleges. e range slightly narrowed compared to the 2020 estimate, a projected shortage of 54,100 to 139,000 physicians by 2033. 3. Hospitals employed 49.3 percent of physi- cians by January 2021, up 5 percent from January 2019, according to an updated study from nonprofit Physicians Advocacy Institute and consulting firm Avalere Health. e rate of hospital or corporate-owned physician practices climbed 8.5 percent aer the onset of COVID-19. 4. A new American Medical Association sur- vey of 301 practicing physicians shows 96 per- cent are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 5. Twenty-eight percent of physicians reported feeling burned out at least once per week, and physicians spend an average of 13.5 hours per week on tasks other than patient care, accord- ing to a report by EHR vendor Athenahealth. 6. Physician residents in emergency depart- ments are particularly vulnerable to physical or verbal assault, according to survey findings published in Annals of Emergency Medicine. Seventy percent of all respondents and 74 per- cent of residents said they experienced verbal assault multiple times over the last year. 7. Compared to January 2019, U.S. physicians worked fewer hours per week on average when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, according to research published in JAMA Network Open. n Top 15 nonmedical side gigs for physicians By Laura Dyrda The most common nonmedical side gig for physicians is real estate, ac- cording to a July 14 report in Medscape. The publication conducted an online survey of 1,804 physicians who had side gigs beyond their medical practices. The top 15 nonmedical side gigs are: 1. Real estate: 21 percent 2. Investing and/or investing advice: 19 percent 3. Advice or consulting: 12 percent 4. Teaching: 11 percent 5. Writing: 8 percent 6. Sports: 5 percent 7. Business consultant: 5 percent 8. Social media influencer or blogger: 4 percent 9. Cooking or food preparation: 3 percent 10. Playing music or singing: 3 percent 11. Life or career coaching: 3 percent 12. Photography: 3 percent 13. Podcasting and blogging: 2 percent 14. Software and electronics: 2 percent 15. Raising, breeding or training animals: 2 percent n Physician surrenders license after soliciting kickbacks from AstraZeneca By Laura Dyrda S teven Simon, MD, a physical medicine and rehabilitation physi- cian based in Leawood, Kan., surrendered his medical license July 16. Mr. Simon pleaded guilty in January to soliciting kickbacks from AstraZeneca, telling a company representative in 2017 that his pre- scriptions for Movantik, a medicine for patients with opioid-induced constipation, would be contingent on the number of paid speaking engagements he gave on behalf of the company. If AstraZeneca provided him with additional speaking engagements, Mr. Simon said he would prescribe Movantik to more patients, according to his plea agreement. AstraZeneca stopped giving Mr. Simon speaking engagements after the conversation with his representative and conducted an internal investigation. Mr. Simon is no longer able to practice medicine in Kansas. n

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