Rates higher during and since the pandemic, particularly among primary care physicians
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, July 23, 2025 (HealthDay News) — From 2010 to 2023, physician exit rates from traditional Medicare increased, according to a study published online July 18 in JAMA Health Forum.
Hannah T. Neprash, Ph.D., from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and Michael E. Chernew, Ph.D., from Harvard Medical School in Boston, analyzed Medicare data to quantify the post-COVID-19 pandemic rate of physician exit from traditional Medicare. The analysis included the annual number of Part B claims billed by each clinician (791,025 physicians) to Medicare from 2010 to 2024.
The researchers found that the share of physicians exiting Medicare in any given year increased significantly from 1.80 percent to 3.60 percent. There was a gradual increase in physician exit during 2010 to 2013, a period of stability from 2014 to 2016, a gradual increase from 2017 to 2019, a spike during the pandemic (2020 to 2021), and a return in 2023 to levels above the 2019 rate. The exit rate among primary care physicians in 2023 (4.41 percent) was higher than that seen for hospital-based specialists (3.50 percent), surgical specialists (2.99 percent), and medical specialists (2.49 percent). Similarly, over time (2010 to 2023), the age-adjusted share of primary care physicians exiting Medicare increased by 0.21 percentage points, which was a significantly higher annual growth in exit than that seen among surgical specialists (0.14 percentage points), hospital-based specialists (0.08 percentage points), and medical specialists (0.06 percentage points).
“The findings may reflect multiple factors, including the greater burden of new communication methods (e.g., portal messages) and demands for clinical documentation,” the authors write.
One author disclosed ties to the health care industry.
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