Study: Half Of All Medical School Grads Leave Illinois
CHICAGO (STMW) - A new Northwestern University study is claiming half of all graduating medical residents or fellows trained in Illinois are leaving the state to practice medicine elsewhere — apparently due to a malpractice policy.
The 2010 Illinois New Physician Workforce Study surveyed 561 graduating Illinois medical students in the spring of 2010, a release from Northwestern said. It examined graduating residents' and fellows' plans for entering the workforce and the reasons for their choices.
The study, the first to examine the state's supply of new doctors, warns Illinois will face a critical doctor shortage, especially in rural areas, if new strategies aren't adopted to stop the exodus, the release said.
"It is no shock that Illinois is losing our new doctors," said Steven M. Malkin, M.D., president of the Illinois State Medical Society and an Arlington Heights internist.
"If a graduating resident sets up shop in any of our neighboring states, the liability premiums will be about a third to half of what he or she would pay in Illinois," Malkin said in the release. "Six-figure medical education debt is the norm for many new doctors. Graduates feel it often doesn't make sense to stick around, unless they have a strong Illinois family connection."
The full study, commissioned by the Feinberg School of Medicine in partnership with the Illinois Hospital Association and the Illinois State Medical Society, can be viewed at http://www.familymedicine.northwestern.edu.
