| General orthopaedic surgeons in % |
General orthopaedic surgeons with specialty in % |
Subspecialty orthopaedic surgeons in % |
All orthopaedic surgeons in % |
|
| There are too many orthopaedic surgeons being trained | 72.7 | 77.0 | 69.8 | 73.2 |
| There are too many subspecialists being trained | 70.3 | 63.0 | 52.3 | 61.7 |
| In my practice community, there are the right number of orthopaedic surgeons to meet patient demand | 37.3 | 36.8 | 30.2 | 34.8 |
| I work more hours than I want to | 34.8 | 41.9 | 47.6 | 41.5 |
| I am not busy enough and would like to see more patients | 35.5 | 30.4 | 24.4 | 30.0 |
| I want to expand my patient case load | 46.9 | 46.8 | 44.2 | 46.0 |
| I wish I had more time to perform orthopaedic surgery | 26.1 | 41.6 | 35.7 | 34.6 |
| I would like to limit my practice to nonsurgical orthopaedics | 11.3 | 3.8 | 1.7 | 5.5 |
| I feel comfortable asking colleagues for advice on difficult cases | 90.9 | 86.7 | 92.2 | 89.9 |
| I refer complex cases to orthopaedic specialists | 79.2 | 69.0 | 62.0 | 69.9 |
| I am no longer enthusiastic about the practice of medicine | 38.0 | 32.8 | 26.8 | 32.5 |
| I plan to retire from orthopaedics sooner than I expected | 47.5 | 37.8 | 34.6 | 39.9 |
| I carefully screen patients to eliminate those who are potentially litigious | 32.2 | 33.2 | 32.7 | 32.7 |
| It is hard to keep up with all the changes being made in medical practice | 60.6 | 56.5 | 62.8 | 60.0 |
| Orthopaedic surgeons should only see patients on referral | 14.7 | 10.1 | 7.9 | 10.9 |
| Managed care had made practicing medicine more complicated | 88.4 | 85.5 | 87.2 | 87.0 |
| Physicians should discuss costs of alternative treatments with their patients | 63.6 | 62.1 | 63.1 | 62.9 |
| Medicare reimbursement levels reflect fair payments for the majority of my geriatric cases | 5.1 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 3.5 |
| General orthopaedic surgeons in % |
General orthopaedic surgeons with specialty in % |
Subspecialty orthopaedic surgeons in % |
All orthopaedic surgeons in % |
|
| Other orthopaedic surgeons | 59.8 | 59.2 | 50.8 | 56.6 |
| Orthopaedic group practices | 47.1 | 51.4 | 40.7 | 46.4 |
| HMO/Managed care plans | 51.0 | 57.8 | 50.6 | 53.2 |
| IPA/Managed care plans | 48.8 | 48.8 | 46.0 | 47.9 |
| Osteopathic surgeons | 9.0 | 8.3 | 6.3 | 7.8 |
| Primary care/general practice physicians | 13.1 | 15.4 | 10.1 | 12.9 |
| Neurosurgeons | 14.3 | 15.5 | 16.0 | 15.3 |
| Podiatrists | 28.5 | 24.4 | 13.1 | 21.4 |
Source: 1998, "Estimating Orthopaedic Provider Supply and Demand" RAND