Study: Florida isn’t a sunny place for physicians to practice

Florida isn’t offering the healthiest work environment for physicians the practice, according to a new study by the financial group WalletHub.

Overall, the state ranks as the 31st best place to practice in the nation, based on the WalletHub study 2022’s Best & Worst Place for Doctors.

South Dakota ranked as the best place in the nation for physicians to practice. Conversely, Rhode Island ranked last.

In compiling the rankings, researchers garnered information on 19 different key metrics. These include the average annual wage, number of hospitals per capita, percentage of physicians per capita, and average age of the population. Each metric was assigned a score and weighted. In determining a state’s overall rank, researchers used the weighted average across all metrics.

Florida earned top scores in the metric tracking the population aged 65 and older.

Additionally, the Florida Board of Medicine’s level of “punitiveness” ranked No. 7. To determine how punitive a medical board was, researchers measured the number of serious disciplinary actions per 1,000 physicians.

Florida earned low scores in other metrics though. Florida ranked 47th in the number of insured patients, 43rd in malpractice liability insurance rates, and 41st in medical malpractice liability payout amounts per capita.

South Dakota earned top scores followed by Minnesota, Wisconsin, Montana and Idaho.

Mississippi was the only southern state to crack the Top 10.

Researchers culled data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Council for Community and Economic Research, Gallagher Insurance and WebMD, among other entities.