Non-physician practitioners are leaving emergency medicine at higher rates and younger ages compared to previous years.
The study, published Jan. 17 in Annals of Emergency Medicine, analyzed data of 31,679 emergency medicine non-physician practitioners using Medicare data on provider practice and specialty and Medicare provider utilization and payment data between 2014 and 2021. The analysis included non-physician practitioners providing at least 25 independent evaluation and management services annually for Medicare beneficiaries. Data for 19,846 physician assistants and 11,833 nurse practitioners were analyzed with the primary assessment being attrition rate.
Here are five things to know:
1. The ED, non-physician, practitioner workforce grew from 14,559 to 17,679 between 2014 and 2021, with women practitioners comprising 64.6% of the workforce.
2. The annual attrition rate was 13.8%, rising from 12.1% in 2014 to 17.6% in 2019. However, women had a higher attrition rate at 14.7% compared to men at 11.8%.
3. Nurse practitioners also had a higher attrition rate than physician assistants (15.9% versus 12.6%, respectively).
4. Rural practitioners had a higher attrition rate (15.1%) than those who practiced in urban areas (13.1%).
5. The age of attrition differs by gender, area and position. Women practitioners had a median age at attrition of 40.2 years, compared to men at 45.9 years. Those practicing in urban areas had a mean age of 38.6 years at attrition compared to those in rural areas who left at 43.6 years. Meanwhile PAs tended to leave at younger ages than NPs.