How States are Keeping Doctors from Moving Out

Widespread concerns about physician shortages have many states working to keep doctors trained in medical schools and residency programs there from crossing state lines to practice medicine.

Nationwide, there were 258.7 active physicians per 100,000 people in 2010, according to new statistics from the Assn. of American Medical Colleges. In individual states, ratios range from a high of 415.5 physicians per 100,000 people in Massachusetts to a low of 176.4 per 100,000 in Mississippi.

On average, only 39% of U.S. physicians practice in the same state where they went to medical school. Forty-eight percent practice in the state where they completed graduate medical education, said the report, released Dec. 2 by the AAMC Center for Workforce Studies.

Read the full story at: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/12/19/prl11219.htm

Source: American Medical News