The 2014 Biennial Physicians Survey, a project of The Physicians Foundation and Merritt Hawkins, has found more than 80 percent of 20,000 U.S. physicians surveyed are either overextended or at capacity in their scheduling.
Eighty-one percent of physicians reported being at or over capacity, while only 19 percent of physicians indicated they had time to see more patients, according to the survey. In addition, nearly half of physicians — 45 percent — had plans to reduce patient access to their services through actions such as cutting back on patients seen, retiring, working part time, not accepting new patients or working in nonclinical jobs.
These changes come at a time when tens of millions of baby boomers are turning 65 each year and significantly increasing the strain on the healthcare system, according to the survey.
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