Health care provider movement increased through COVID-19

Abstract

Abstract COVID-19 placed unprecedented strain on the health workforce, raising concerns of increasing worker turnover and attrition. This study explores the use of 2 publicly available Medicare datasets—Provider Enrollment, Chain, and Ownership System (PECOS) and Doctors and Clinicians—to track provider movement across states and organizations from 2017 to 2023. We found an increase in state-to-state movement of providers post–COVID-19, with an initial spike in physician movement in the first year (April 2020 to March 2021). Movement varied across specialties and professions. Between organizations, we saw an initial increase in movement for family physicians but not internal medicine physicians. Overall, provider movement was generally to larger organizations. Our study finds increasing movement of providers in the post–COVID-19 period through the novel use of 2 publicly available Medicare datasets. Tracking health care workforce movement closer to real time is important to understand a changing workforce—with differences across communities—and to guide policies to ensure sufficient workforce and prevent worsening disparities over time.