District of Columbia has a very low risk of a doctor shortage, according to a report released by The Senior List, a lifestyle blog for seniors.
The District is ranked 49th among the most likely states to face a doctor shortage. In D.C., 11.6 percent of the population is at least 65 years old.
According to the report, the city has 866.3 doctors per 100,000 residents, which is above the recommended 238 baseline, while 29.8 percent of the D.C. doctors are nearing retirement. It was also found that D.C. has 241.6 residents and fellows in accredited programs per 100,000 residents.
In order to determine the rankings, the authors of the report combined the ranking of each state for current doctor workforce, the number of doctors nearing retirement age, and medical students who are about to finish their education.
“While the District of Columbia has by far the highest proportion of physicians and medical students, the District’s percentage of doctors nearing retirement age is relatively high. So D.C. ranks first in the first two categories but 24th in doctors near retirement age,” stated the report.
The top 10 states that are most likely to see a shortfall of doctors are Wyoming, Montana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Nevada, Florida, Idaho, New Mexico, and Indiana.
The report found nine states falling “dangerously below the current baseline” for lacking at least a third of the number of required physicians to meet that level.
While Wyoming has roughly 199 doctors per 100,000 residents, the number is 186 for Mississippi and 193 for Idaho.
According to the statistics released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans in a year make about 990 million visits to doctors.
