The physician workforce is skewing older, with many set to retire in the next decade and fewer medical students and residents in the current pipeline to take over.
One-third of physicians practicing in the U.S. are 60 years old or older, according to a report from AMN Healthcare, B.E. Smith and Merritt Hawkins, and there is not a sufficient number of physicians entering the field.
The five states facing the largest potential number of physicians retiring in the next decade, based on percentage of physicians 60 years or older:
1. New Mexico: 37 percent
2. Hawaii: 35.5 percent
3. New Jersey: 35 percent
4 .Montana 35 percent
5. Maine: 35 percent