Hospitals employed 49.3 percent of physicians by January 2021, up 5 percent from January 2019.
Here are seven takeaways from recent studies involving physicians:
1. Nearly four in 10 U.S. physicians have side gigs, according to a new report from Medscape.
2, The U.S. could face a shortage of 37,800 to 124,000 physicians by 2034, according to data released by the Association of American Medical Colleges. The range slightly narrowed compared to the 2020 estimate, a projected shortage of 54,100 to 139,000 physicians by 2033.
3. Hospitals employed 49.3 percent of physicians by January 2021, up 5 percent from January 2019, according to an updated study from nonprofit Physicians Advocacy Institute and consulting firm Avalere Health. The rate of hospital or corporate-owned physician practices climbed 8.5 percent after the onset of COVID-19.
4. A new American Medical Association survey of 301 practicing physicians shows 96 percent are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
5. Twenty-eight percent of physicians reported feeling burned out at least once per week, and physicians spend an average of 13.5 hours per week on tasks other than patient care, according to a report by EHR vendor Athenahealth.
6. Physician residents in emergency departments are particularly vulnerable to physical or verbal assault, according to survey findings published in Annals of Emergency Medicine. Seventy percent of all respondents and 74 percent of residents said they experienced verbal assault multiple times over the last year.
7. Compared to January 2019, U.S. physicians worked fewer hours per week on average when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, according to research published in JAMA Network Open.