A new study has found that Las Vegas has the biggest shortage of OB-GYN doctors in the nation.
Doximity’s “2019 OB-GYN Workforce Study” analyzed the primary factors impacting the specialty on a national and local level, including the percentage of OB-GYNs nearing retirement age, the number of younger practicing OB-GYNs, and maternity workloads. By combining these factors, Doximity researchers created a composite index score to identify the U.S. metros that have the highest risk of OB-GYN shortages.
The new report also examined sources of insurance coverage for live births – private vs. government – to help assess whether compensation is proportionate to growing workloads.
The following MSAs are the top 10 most likely to suffer a shortage of OB-GYNs in coming years:
- Las Vegas
- Salt Lake City
- Miami
- Riverside, Calif.
- Los Angeles
- Buffalo, N.Y.
- Jacksonville, Fla.
- Detroit
- Pittsburgh
- Dallas
New to the report this year, Doximity also examined the sharply declining birthrates in the U.S., as published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In 2018, the U.S. birthrate fell to the lowest number in 32 years, but the drop was particularly pronounced for millennial women. In 2017, the total fertility rate was 1,764.5 births per 1,000 women. That represents the largest single-year decline since 2010.
Lingering financial challenges from the Great Recession combined with a shortage of trained OB-GYN specialists may make the goal of having children even harder to reach for millennial women.
