Your Doctor is Retiring. Here's How to Find a New Physician

You've known your primary doctor longer than your best friend. She has been there through minor medical issues and larger health scares. And now, she is retiring.

It can feel like a real loss when a long-time physician -- whether your internist or a specialist who has helped you through an acute or chronic illness -- retires or simply decides to leave. That's likely to happen more in the coming years. Fifty-four percent of doctors surveyed by the recruitment company Jackson Physician Search say the pandemic prompted them to reconsider their job. Of those doctors, 21% are considering early retirement and 15% are thinking of leaving the field entirely. (Fifty percent said they were considering changing employers.)

Finding a new doctor is never easy, especially when insurers limit whom you can see. Doctors themselves often stop accepting newcomers if their roster of patients is full. Still, you entrust your doctor with your