A majority of U.S. physicians are over extended or running at full capacity, according to a survey released by The Physicians Foundation and Merritt Hawkins, a physician search and consulting division of AMN Healthcare Inc. (NYSE: AHS).

The survey found 81 percent of doctors described themselves as either overextended or at full capacity. Only 19 percent said they have time to see more patients.

To deal with this, the survey found 44 percent of doctors planned to take steps to reduce patient access to their services. These included cutting back on patients seen, retiring, working part-time, closing their practice to new patients or seeking nonclinical jobs.

“Physicians are younger, more are working in employed practice settings and more are leaving private practice,” said Walker Ray, M.D., vice president of The Physicians Foundation and chair of its research committee. “This new guard of physicians report having less capacity to take on additional patients.  These trends carry significant implications for patient access to care. With more physicians retiring and an increasing number of doctors, particularly younger physicians, planning to switch in whole or in part to concierge medicine, we could see a limiting effect on physician supply and, ultimately, on the ability of the U.S. healthcare system to properly care for millions of new patients.”

Merritt Hawkins conducted the online survey for The Physicians Foundation between March 2014 and June 2014. It included responses from 20,088 doctors.

The Physicians Foundation is a nonprofit organization that seeks to advance the work of practicing physicians and help facilitate delivery of healthcare to patients.

For more on the survey, click here.