... and many would prefer to work in a hospital

Physicians blame declining reimbursements and administrative hassles as major factors in their stagnant compensation, according to a recent survey by The Medicus Firm, a physician recruitment firm. The annual 2013 Physician Practice Preference and Relocation Survey of more than 2,500 physicians revealed several workforce trends and practice preferences. Among them:

• Nearly 60% of physicians prefer metropolitan or suburban locations, while only 6.1% are open to a smaller town with fewer than 25,000 residents.
• Physicians expressed an affinity for the Eastern region of the country, with the Southeast (20.3%) edging the Northeast (17.5%) as the most preferred region.
• More than half (54%) of new physicians (those in training at the time of the survey) indicated a preference for employment by a hospital (28.1%) or academic center (25.9%).
• Networking with colleagues was the favorite way to identify new practice opportunities (34.3%), followed by online physician job boards (28.3%) and physician recruiting firms (27.2 %). Social media, mobile apps, and journal advertisements comprised the remaining 9% of job search activities.

Many physicians reported flat or declining income, but a few specialties experienced some income growth, such as hospitalists, emergency medicine, OB/GYN, and general surgery.