Financial analysis of PA lifetime earnings and debt

Bruza-Augatis, Mirela; Hooker, Roderick S.; Coombs, Jennifer

doi:10.1097/01.jaa.0000800020.12927.8c

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 18 publications

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“…The strength of this work is as a new contribution to understanding the PA career [ 22 ]. Knowing that most clinically active PAs intend to remain working suggests they are integrated into medical systems that value them and, in turn, value their role.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physician assistant/associate retirement intent: seeking the exit ramp

Hooker

Kozikowski²,

Cawley

et al. 2022

BMC Health Serv Res

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Background Retirement patterns for American physician assistants/associates (PAs) are in flux as the first substantial cadre trained in the 1970s makes their retirement choices. The growing and aging of the US population is increasing the demand for healthcare services. At the same time, provider retirement can decrease patient access to care, disrupt continuity of care and lead to poorer health outcomes. Knowing PA intentions to retire and the retirement patterns can be useful to health system employers and workforce policymakers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the retirement patterns of PAs within the United States. We investigated their characteristics, career roles, and intent to depart from clinical practice. Methods Drawing on the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) 2020 health workforce data (N = 105,699), the associations of demographics (age, gender, US region, and years certified), and practice attributes (specialty and practice setting) of clinically active PAs were assessed with intending to retire in the next five years. Analyses for this national cross-sectional study included descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and Fisher’s Exact test, as appropriate. A p-value of 0.05 or less was considered statistically significant for all analyses where a comparison was made. Results Overall, 5.8% of respondents indicated that they intend to retire within five years. We detected significant differences (all p < 0.001) on intentions to retire by age group, gender, US region, years certified, specialty, and practice setting. Respondents 70 years and older compared to those 60–69 were more likely (66.5% vs. 48.9%), males compared to females (8.8% vs. 4.4%), those who have been certified for more than 21 years compared to 11–20 years (25.6% vs. 4.0%), PAs practicing in family medicine compared to dermatology (7.7% vs. 3.4%) and those in the federal government practice setting compared to rural health clinic (13.6% vs. 9.8%) reported they were more likely to retire in the next five years. Conclusions Our study provides a comprehensive snapshot of PA retirement intentions using a robust national dataset. Among the most important factors associated with intent to retire in this study were older age and duration of PA career. Most PAs are remaining clinically active into their seventh decade—suggesting that they are integrated into medical systems that value them and they, in turn, value their role.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physician assistant/associate retirement intent: seeking the exit ramp

Hooker

Kozikowski²,

Cawley

et al. 2022

BMC Health Serv Res

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Healthcare educational debt in the united states: unequal economic impact within interprofessional team members

Shields,

Suneja,

Shields

et al. 2023

BMC Med Educ

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Background Advancing healthcare access and quality for underserved populations requires a diverse, culturally competent interprofessional workforce. However, high educational debt may influence career choice of healthcare professionals. In the United States, health professions lack insight into the maximum educational debt that can be supported by current entry-level salaries. The purpose of this interprofessional economic analysis was to examine whether average educational debt for US healthcare graduates is supportable by entry-level salaries. Additionally, the study explored whether trainees from minoritized backgrounds graduate with more educational debt than their peers in physical therapy. Methods The study modeled maximum educational debt service ratios for 12 healthcare professions and 6 physician specialties, incorporating profession-specific estimates of entry-level salary, salary growth, national average debt, and 4 loan repayment scenarios offered by the US Department of Education Office of Student Financial Aid. Net present value (NPV) provided an estimate for lifetime “economic power” for the modeled careers. The study used a unique data source available from a single profession (physical therapy, N = 4,954) to examine whether educational debt thresholds based on the repayment model varied between minoritized groups and non-minoritized peers. Results High salary physician specialties (e.g. obstetrics/gynecology, surgery) and professions without graduate debt (e.g. registered nurse) met debt ratio targets under any repayment plan. Professions with strong salary growth and moderate debt (e.g. physician assistant) required extended repayment plans but had high career NPV. Careers with low salary growth and high debt relative to salary (e.g. physical therapy) had career NPV at the lowest range of modeled professions. 29% of physical therapy students graduated with more debt than could be supported by entry-level salaries. Physical therapy students from minoritized groups graduated with 10–30% more debt than their non-minoritized peers. Conclusions Graduates from most healthcare professions required extended repayment plans (higher interest) to meet debt ratio benchmarks. For several healthcare professions, low debt relative to salary protected career NPV. Students from minoritized groups incurred higher debt than their peers in physical therapy.

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Financial analysis of PA lifetime earnings and debt

Cited by 2 publications

References 18 publications

Physician assistant/associate retirement intent: seeking the exit ramp

Physician assistant/associate retirement intent: seeking the exit ramp

Healthcare educational debt in the united states: unequal economic impact within interprofessional team members

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