ArticleCMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne2017
Patterns of physician retirement and pre-retirement activity: a population-based cohort study.
Article in CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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21 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Physician assistant/associate retirement intent: seeking the exit ramp.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Updated Inventory and Projected Requirements for Specialist Physicians in Geriatrics.Canadian geriatrics journal : CGJ · 2021Article
- How long does it take patients to find a new primary care physician when theirs retires: a population-based, longitudinal study.Human resources for health · 2021Article
- Retaining VA Women's Health Primary Care Providers: Work Setting Matters.Journal of general internal medicine · 2021Article
- Gender disparities among United States academic pediatric ophthalmologists: an analysis of publication productivity, academic rank, and NIH funding.Journal of AAPOS : the official publication of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus · 2020Article
- Will the Real Physician Retirees Please Stand Up?Healthcare policy = Politiques de sante · 2018Article
- Retirement ages of senior UK doctors: national surveys of the medical graduates of 1974 and 1977.BMJ open · 2018Article
- Physician retirement: gender, geography, flexibility and pensions.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2017Article
- The journey begins: BC roadmap for pharmacist integration into team-based primary care.Canadian pharmacists journal : CPJ = Revue des pharmaciens du Canada : RPCArticle
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundKnowing when physicians retire and how they practise in the pre-retirement years is important information for health human resource planning. We identified patterns of retirement for physicians in British Columbia and the determinants of when and how physicians retire.
methodsFor this population-based retrospective cohort study, we used administrative data to examine activity levels and to identify retirements among BC's practising physicians. We included all physicians who were at least 50 years of age as of March 2006 and who had received payments for clinical services in at least 1 year between 2005/06 and 2011/12. We defined retirement as a permanent drop in monthly payments to less than $1667/month ($20 000/yr). We examined the patterns and timing of retirement by age, sex, specialty and location using linear and logistic regression models.
resultsOf the 4572 physicians who met the inclusion criteria, 1717 (37.6%) retired during the study period. The average age at retirement was 65.1 (standard deviation 7.8) years. Controlling for other demographic and practice characteristics, we found that women and physicians working in rural areas retired earlier, by 4.1 (95% confidence interval [CI] -4.9 to -3.2) years and 2.3 (95% CI -3.4 to -1.1) years, respectively. We found no difference in retirement age by specialty. We identified 4 patterns of pre-retirement activity: slow decline, rapid decline, maintenance and increasing activity. About 40% of physicians (440/1107) reduced their activity levels by at least 10% in the 3 years preceding retirement.
interpretationDuring the study period, physicians in BC - particularly women and those in rural areas - retired earlier than indicated by licensure and survey data. Many physicians reduced their practice activity in the pre-retirement years. These trends indicate that forecasts relying on licensure "head counts" are likely overestimating current and future physician supply.
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