New Report: Best and Worst States for Doctors

Earlier this month, personal finance site WalletHub published a report ranking the best and worst states for physicians. They based the rankings on a variety of factors, including the cost of medical malpractice insurance, the amount of malpractice award payouts per capita in the previous year and average physician wages, as well as public health measures, like the number of state residents with health insurance and the number of hospitals in the state. Click here to view their full report.

Coming out on top was Mississippi, which had the highest wages for physicians when adjusted for cost-of-living. Mississippi is also undergoing a physician shortage, especially in rural areas, so there is plenty of demand for doctors. Other top-ranking states included Iowa (2), Minnesota (3) and North Dakota (4). Both Iowa and Minnesota were among the least expensive states for medical liability insurance, while North Dakota was number one on the list of states with the lowest malpractice award payouts per capita.

The bottom of the rankings included many states in the northeast and mid-Atlantic regions, with Washington, D.C. (51) ranking last, just ahead of New York (50), Rhode Island (49), Maryland (48) and Connecticut (47). Maryland, New York and Rhode Island were among the states with the highest malpractice award payouts per capita, while Washington, D.C. and New York had some of the most expensive medical liability insurance. Connecticut, New York and Washington, D.C. also had some of the lowest wages for physicians, when adjusted for cost-of-living.

While WalletHub’s report provides some interesting insights for physicians, to get a clearer picture of the cost of medical malpractice insurance in the 50 states and Washington, D.C., see our Historic Medical Malpractice Rate Data. Cunningham Group has partnered with the Medical Liability Monitor to publish historic rate data for all 50 states. Click here to see insurance rates for your state!