Study: Doctor numbers overestimated - Orlando Business Journal:

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Locally, the study shows that a surprising percentage of doctors say they plan to leavew or reduce their practice in the nextfive years. The studyu found 34,000 physicians say they regularlty practicein Florida, not the 50,000 previously FSU surveyed physicians renewing their state licensde in 2007. Of those doctorx contacted, 88 percent The study found 13 percent of physicians in Florida plan to leave or significantly reducre their practice within the nextfive However, 22 percent of the general surgeonw surveyed in Broward, Orange and Polk counties say they plan to leavde or significantly reduce their practice within five More than 21 percent of surgical specialists, anesthesiologistsa and pathologists in Polk Count say they're planning to leavw or significantly reduce their practice by 2012.
In more than 14 percent of physicianssay they'll leave or reduce their practice in radiology, surgicaol specialties, family medicine, pathology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, obstetrica and gynecology and general A contributing factor could be that the mean age of physicianw responding was 51, which indicates that the physician workforces is aging and approaching retirement. There'es a host of things experts say are making it less attractive to be a doctor in Florid a these days including declining reimbursement from Medicare and healtjhinsurance companies, higher premiums on medical malpractics insurance and a lack of residency training slots for new Florida ranks 44th in the nation in the numberf of slots per 100,000 population, accordinvg to the .
"Many don't feel they can practicw much longer under thecurrentg conditions," says Dr. Connie assistant director of medical education at and president of the Orange CounthMedical Society.