Cumulative Attrition for Surgeons 9.7 Percent Over Eight Years

THURSDAY, June 4, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Cumulative attrition of surgeons is 9.7 percent, with a higher hazard for surgeons 10 to 14 years in practice, according to a study published online May 20 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Abdulaziz Elemosho, M.D., from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and James Comprehensive Cancer Center in Columbus, and colleagues conducted a retrospective longitudinal cohort study to examine national trends and predictors of attrition from active clinical surgical practice. The study included surgeons billing Medicare Part B across 19 specialties.

The researchers found that during a median of eight years, 15,753 of the 224,629 surgeons exited active practice, yielding cumulative attrition of 9.7 percent. From 2013 to 2018, the annual attrition was 1.5 to 1.7 percent, then peaked at 2.5 percent in 2019, and declined to 1.3 percent in 2020. Five-year cumulative attrition reached 25.1, 23.2, and 19.3 percent in oral and maxillofacial surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and plastic surgery, respectively. The hazard of attrition was more than double for surgeons 10 to 14 years in practice versus five to nine years (hazard ratio [HR], 2.58), while those with less than five years and 15 to 19 years of practice had lower hazards (HR, 0.91 and 0.19, respectively) in adjusted analyses.

“These findings show that surgical attrition is a real problem, and that we need to address it in a nuanced and tailored way, focusing on certain subspecialties that are highest risk, and focusing on midlevel providers who are most likely to leave surgery,” coauthor Timothy M. Pawlik, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., also from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and James Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in a statement.

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