Healthcare Staffing Report: Aug. 6, 2015

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Merritt Hawkins says demand at all-time high for psychiatrists

Demand for psychiatrists is at an all-time high, according to a report released by Merritt Hawkins, the physician search division of AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE: AHS). Merritt Hawkins’ 2015 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives tracks the 3,120 physician and advanced practitioner recruiting assignments the firm conducted from April 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015.

The report indicates that Merritt Hawkins was retained to conduct more searches for psychiatrists in the prior 12 months than in any other similar period in its 27-year history. Psychiatrists trailed only primary care doctors on the list of the firm’s 20 most in-demand medical specialties.

“Psychiatrists are aging out of practice at a time when demand for their services is spiking,” said Merritt Hawkins senior VP Travis Singleton. “Finding a psychiatrist willing to practice in an inpatient setting is like looking for a needle in a haystack.”

The federal government has designated 3,968 whole or partial counties as “health professional shortage areas” for mental health, Singleton said, defined as areas where there is less than one psychiatrist per 30,000 people. It would take 2,707 health professionals to remove these designations.

In Texas alone, 185 of 254 counties have no general psychiatrist, according to a separate Merritt Hawkins report. Disparities by state are dramatic. While Massachusetts has 18 psychiatrists per 100,000 population, Idaho has only five. Approximately 48% of psychiatrists are likely to retire over the next five years, Singleton said, with few available to take their place.

“Mental health is a topic that the health system and patients themselves often avoid,” Singleton said. “For that reason, psychiatry can be considered the ‘silent shortage,’ even though shortages in psychiatry may be even more acute than they are in primary care.”

The report indicates that demand for primary doctors, PAs, NPs, obstetrician/gynecologists, and physicians who manage chronic illness, such as psychiatrists, pulmonologists, and cardiologists, all increased over the previous year. Implementation of population health management through integrated systems such as accountable care organizations is likely to keep demand strong for these types of clinicians, Singleton said.      

The 10 most requested physician search assignments, by medical specialty, at Merritt Hawkins from April 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015, are:

  • Family medicine: 734
  • Internal medicine: 237
  • Psychiatry: 230
  • Hospitalist: 176
  • Nurse practitioner: 143
  • OB/GYN: 112
  • Orthopedic surgery: 106
  • Emergency medicine: 80
  • Pediatrics: 71
  • General surgery: 63

The prevalence of private, independent physician practices continues to decline, the report also indicated. Only about 5% of Merritt Hawkins search assignments in the previous year featured an independent practice setting, while 95% featured employment by a hospital, medical group, urgent care center, Federally Quality Health Clinic or other employer.

The 2015 Review is based on the 3,120 permanent physician and advanced practitioner search assignments that Merritt Hawkins and AMN Healthcare’s other physician staffing companies, Kendall & Davis and Staff Care, had ongoing or were engaged to conduct during the 12-month period from April 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015.