MS4 here, just about to graduate and start my prelim year next year before I start ophthalmology training (YEAH!!!). I've been shadowing several private practice ophthos around on my current rotation. We got to talking about where I'd like to practice, home vs. away, big vs. little, wife/kids/etc...and anyway I told them that I would like to go back home. There are currently 3 ophthalmologist in my home town of about 25k. My question is....what is the population size needed on average per ophthalmologist to have a sustainable practice? 10k, 15k, 30k???
Population needed per ophthalmologist
- Thread starter castiron
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Depends on the population demographics. A college town of 25k won't offer much in the way of cataract opportunities and probably would barely support one practicing doc. A geriatric community of 25k may support 2-3, but it sounds like your town is pretty saturated already. Might be helpful to know if any of those docs are planning to retire soon
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You generally will need to practice in a community where a general hospital is located. It isn't so much necessary for your day to day practice, but being credentialed at an outpatient surgery center usually requires also having hospital admitting privileges somewhere nearby. Also, you will want and need other doctors to refer to you, and those referring doctors will usually have offices near a medical center.
That doesn't necessarily rule out practicing in a community of 25K people as long as the area outside the town has enough people who use the town's facilities for care. If you have a large cachement area to your town, say 200K people or more in a county, then you might do just fine. but if there is no hospital and patients generally go to some other town where all the other doctors are, then you might have a tough go of making a practice work. In general, a town of 25K without a hospital might support an optometrist, who doesn't need a hospital or surgery privileges, but it won't support an ophthalmologist.
That doesn't necessarily rule out practicing in a community of 25K people as long as the area outside the town has enough people who use the town's facilities for care. If you have a large cachement area to your town, say 200K people or more in a county, then you might do just fine. but if there is no hospital and patients generally go to some other town where all the other doctors are, then you might have a tough go of making a practice work. In general, a town of 25K without a hospital might support an optometrist, who doesn't need a hospital or surgery privileges, but it won't support an ophthalmologist.
