Providers are increasingly interested in new opportunities in the coming year, according to the Medicus Firm's "2015 Physician Practice Preference & Relocation Survey." The percentage of those that will definitely not make a career change dropped from 43 percent last year to 34 percent in this year's survey.
Practicing providers who are looking to make a career change are most motivated by greater financial rewards (40.7 percent) and a better geographic location (25.9 percent).
Here are eight things to know about what physicians are looking for in their practice settings, based on the survey.
- 30.3 percent of practicing physicians prefer single-specialty group practice.
- 4.9 percent of practicing physicians said they preferred solo practice, down from 7.7 percent last year.
- 26.1 percent of residents and fellows who responded to the survey said they prefer hospital employment.
- Practicing physicians most prefer a suburban community setting within 30 minutes of a major metropolitan area (33.1 percent), compared to 23.2 percent who prefer mid-sized cities, 22.6 percent who prefer major metropolitan areas, 14.2 percent who prefer small cities and 6.9 percent who prefer small towns or rural community settings.
- Comparatively, a greater percentage of providers in training prefer major metropolitan areas most (36.6 percent), followed by suburban areas (30.2 percent), mid-sized cities (22.6 percent), small cities (7.2 percent) and small towns or rural areas (3.4 percent).
- 22.9 percent of practicing physicians prefer to live and work in the Southeast (South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee and Kentucky).
- 14.4 percent prefer to live and work in the Northeast (New England and New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey).
- 2.5 percent preferred the North/Central region (Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and North Dakota).
The Medicus Firm surveyed 2,685 providers across 21 specialties and 47 states. Participants included some residents, fellows, nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
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