In this issue of The Journal (p 2392), Newhouse and colleagues demonstrate the rapid geographic diffusion of physicians in most specialties during the period from 1970 to 1979.
This demonstration will probably come as no surprise, since it confirms the personal observation of many physicians, who have watched the influx of more and more young colleagues into their communities during the same period, and who have begun to see some of these physicians pull up stakes after a few months and move to other (usually smaller) communities.
Newhouse and co-workers have not stopped with the simple demonstration of geographic diffusion. They have analyzed the differing patterns of diffusion among the various specialties and have attempted to understand the forces underlying it. Such understanding is of obvious importance, since it might enable us to predict the choice of location of future physicians, and even to influence such choices.
An earlier article