Doctors also blame shrinking insurance reimbursements, changing regulations, and the rising costs of malpractice insurance, drugs and other business necessities for making it harder to keep their practices afloat.
Related Story: Doctors going broke
Oncologist Dr. Dennis Morgan had a profitable solo practice in Enfield, Conn., for years. Revenues began to fall, he said, when reimbursements for treatment and drugs to oncologists started shrinking. He made cutbacks, but he began having trouble meeting expenses, and his business debt grew. Critical chemotherapy drug and medical supplies providers "eventually cut me off," Morgan said.
In June 2011, his practice, in a medically underserved area, filed for bankruptcy. It had hundreds of chemotherapy patients at the time.
For the next two years, his role became "that of a captain of a sinking ship managing the allocation of life boats until rescue arrived," he said. He redirected patients to other doctors and area hospitals. Early last year, he stopped practicing medicine.