Many Older DoctorsPlan to Phase out Their Practice

The results of a newsurvey indicate that 48 percent of physicians between 50 and 65 years of ageare planning to reduce or end their clinical practice in the next 1 to 3

years.The findingsalso suggest that many older physicians believe that their younger counterpartsdo not have the work ethic they do.

The survey,which wasconducted by Merritt Hawkins&Associates,a Texas-based physician search andconsulting firm,suggests that many older physicians are simply

unhappy with thechan- ges that have taken place in medicine over the years.

"When Baby Boomdoctors entered medicine they had control over how they practiced and the feethey charged .But the rules changed on them in mid-stream and now many

are looking for aticket out."Mark Smith,executive vice president of MerrittHawkins&Associates,said in a state-ment.

"Our study isthe only one I am aware of that examines the career plans of physicians in the50-65 age group."This age group represents more than one-third of allphysicians

in the U.S.If theystop working in the coming years,it will have a"significant impact"onthe overall supply of physicians,Smith told Reuters Health.

The results of thesurvey ,which included 1,170 respondents（调查对象）,show that 24 per-cent of older physicians are planning to leaveclinical practice all together in the

next 1 to 3 years.Specifically,14percent said they were planning on retiring,7 percent said they were lookingfor a medical job a non-patient care setting,and 3 percent said

they were seeking ajob in a non-medi-cal field.

For those physiciansnot leaving clinical practice,many said they would make changes to re- duce thenumber of patients they treat.For instance,12 percent said they would

begin workingpart-time,8 percent said they planned to stop taking new patients or markedlyreduce their patient load,and 4 percent expressed a desire to work on atemporary

basis.

When asked about thework ethic of physicians entering practice today,68 percent of the re-spondentssaid that these younger doctors are not as dedicated or as hard working

as physicians whoentered practice 20 to 30 years ago.

Fifty-seven percentof older physicians said they would not recommend medicine as a career to theirown children.Similarly,44 percent said they would not select medicine as

a career if theywere starting out today.

" The mostominous（不祥的）finding isthat about one half of physicians surveyed plant to ei-ther abandon patientcare in the next 1 to 3 years,or significantly reduce the

number of patientsthey see."Smith said."The U .S.already is facing a widespreadshortage of physicians,should ol- der,‘workhorse’physicians choose to opt outof patient

care access tomedical services will be fur-ther restricted."The survey wasfocused on______.

A.the livingconditions of older physicians in the U.S.

B.the career plansof older physicians in the U.S.

C.the retirementplans of older physicians in the U.S.

D.the achievementsof older physicians in the U.S.