PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island and Massachusetts are among the 10 worst states in which to practice medicine, according to WalletHub’s 2017 Best & Worst States for Doctors, a national report recently released by the personal finance website that evaluates financial products, professionals and companies.
Using several key metrics, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Rhode Island was ranked at 47, and Massachusetts at 46.
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Rhode Island’s lower-than-average rankings are as follows, with Massachusetts’ rankings listed in parentheses:
- 50 for current competition, based on number of physicians per 1,000 residents (Mass., 49)
- 48 for average annual wages for physicians, adjusted for cost of living (Mass., 46)
- 47, tied with Washington, D.C. and Connecticut, for highest projected competition by 2024 (Mass., 45)
- 47 for highest malpractice award, based on payout amount per capita (Mass., 48)
- 46 for physicians’ average monthly starting salary (Mass., 30)
- 40 for primary care provider shortage (Mass., 45)
- 38 for number of hospitals per 100,000 residents (Mass., 30)
The state’s above-average rankings are these, with Massachusetts’ rankings listed in parentheses:
- 13 for insured population rate (Mass., 1)
- 18 for projected share of elderly population (Mass., 21)
- 7 for the state medical board’s punitive approach, based on the state medical board’s number of disciplinary actions per 1,000 physicians (Mass., 4).
No state in New England or on the East Coast ranked as one of the top 10 states for physicians, according to WalletHub’s analysis.
