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The following is a summary of “Clinical Practice Patterns of the Emergency Physician Workforce Before and After Attrition,” published in the March 2025 issue of Annals of Emergency Medicine by Agboh et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to assess the clinical service volume before and in practice settings after emergency physician workforce attrition.  

They analyzed 2013-2021 Medicare data to examine emergency physician workforce attrition, which is defined as not billing for emergency department (ED) services for 1 year after billing at least 50 services in the prior year. Outcomes included the volume of ED-based clinical services before attrition and the non-ED practice settings billed afterward.  

The results showed that between 2013 and 2021, 60,140 emergency physicians billed Medicare for more than 50 ED services in at least 1 year, with 13,888 experiencing workforce attrition. Annual attrition rates ranged from 3.1% to 6.6%. Physicians who left the workforce provided 12.3% fewer ED services in the year before attrition (602.2 vs. 687.0 services). A significant decline in services was observed in 27.9% of those leaving, compared to 3.5% among those who remained. After exiting emergency medicine, 23.7% continued billing Medicare in non-ED settings, primarily in urgent care and office-based practices.  

Investigators concluded that emergency physicians decreased their clinical workload before leaving emergency medicine, with a small portion moving to other clinical roles and those remaining in healthcare often working in urgent care or office-based settings billing Medicare. 

Source: annemergmed.com/article/S0196-0644(25)00061-7/abstract