Public health experts have long predicted that the United States will increasingly suffer from a shortage of physicians. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates that the physician shortage could reach 120,000 medical providers by 2034. A new report finds that nearly 334,000 health care providers left the field in 2021. This includes doctors and nurse practitioners.
As a profession, physicians lost the most members, with 117,000 individuals leaving their roles last year, followed by nurse practitioners, which lost 53,295 members and physician assistants, with 22,704 positions vacated, according to a report published Thursday by Definitive Healthcare.