Psychiatrists were behind only primary care physicians as the most recruited medical specialty from April 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015, according to a report from Merritt Hawkins.
During the 2014-2015 time period, 230 search assignments were performed for psychiatrists, only 7 behind the number of recruitments done for doctors in internal medicine. However, both were still far behind the 734 searches performed for family medicine. Hospitalists, nurse practitioners, ob.gyns., and orthopedic surgeons also had more than 100 searches performed during the time period, Merritt Hawkins reported.
Demand for psychiatrists is rising as many psychiatrists are aging out. Nearly half of all psychiatrists are likely to retire within the next 5 years, according to Travis Singleton, senior vice president of Merritt Hawkins. “Psychiatrists are aging out of practice at a time when demand for their services is spiking. Finding a psychiatrist willing to practice in an inpatient setting is like looking for a needle in a haystack,” he said in a statement.
In addition to the age problem, psychiatrist distribution varies widely by state, influencing demand. Massachusetts, a heavily urbanized state, has 18 psychiatrists per 100,000 people, while Idaho, a rural state, has only 5 per 100,000.
Of the 254 counties in Texas, 185 have no general psychiatrist, and this is a small fraction of the nearly 4,000 whole or partial counties listed as Health Professional Shortage Areas for mental health.
“Mental health is a topic that the health system and patients themselves often avoid,” Mr. Singleton said. “For that reason, psychiatry can be considered the ‘silent shortage,’ even though shortages in psychiatry may be even more acute than they are in primary care.”
