Dr. Timothy P. Farrell grew up in Pennsylvania, loves Pennsylvania, and had lived and worked in Pennsylvania at his own practice for 22 years before malpractice demands and low reimbursements drove him out of the state. Farrell is not alone.
Radiology residents and long-time practitioners are fleeing Pennsylvania because reimbursement rates are low, malpractice insurance is high, and pay is better in warmer climates.
While Pennsylvania is in trouble, it is by no means the lone coyote howling at the moon. Radiologists across the nation are generally older than practitioners in other specialties.
Of the roughly 30,000 radiologists nationwide, only 11,000 are younger than 45, according to the American Medical Association. This means that in a few years, other states could face the same issues Pennsylvania is dealing with now.
Pennsylvania's problem is threefold: A significant portion of practicing radiologists will head into retirement within the next five to 10 years; residents trained there leave for other states; and malpractice expenses and money woes are forcing current Pennsylvania radiologists to move away.
RESIDENTS READY TO RAMBLE
Approximately 1100 radiology residencies in the U.S. participate in the National Residency Matching Program. Even if every radiology resident in the U.S. joined a Pennsylvania practice fresh from training, there still would not be enough bodies to cover the shortage.
Although Pennsylvania boasts six medical schools, once residents graduate almost all of them fly the coop.
“It's a little bit sad that [Pennsylvania] is educating so many people, and then they're leaving the state,” said Dr. Anne P. Dunne, director of Geisinger Medical Center's radiology residency program in Danville, PA.
Recruiting medical students or residents is just like everything else. Programs want the best students they can get, which means students come from all across the country.
“In the past few years, we had maybe four residents who came from Florida. And they all wanted to go back to Florida,” she said.
Personal ties to a state are what prompt people to stay, according to Dr. Jon Zachary Elliott, chief resident at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey.
“If [the personal ties and connections] are not there, you're more apt to go elsewhere,” he said.
Just as in real estate, location is everything.
If a radiologist could get paid the same or better in another location, why would he or she stay in Pennsylvania? “If we don't have somebody who has some ties to that small town, recruiting—no matter how good the opportunity is—remains difficult. It might be a great place to raise a family, it might be a great place to buy a house and have a great school system, but if you're not from there, there's no serious reason to move there,” McCartie said.
