Physician Distribution in Boston and Brookline, 1940 and 1961

This study analyzes the distribution of physicians in Boston and Brookline in 1940 and 1961 according to the physician's type and location of practice, his specialty interest, and the average levels of income, occupation and education of the residents of the census tract in which his office was located. The ratio of physicians/100,000 population in the study area in 1961 was 524.8, four times the national average. Between 1940 and 1961, the supply of general practitioners fell 50 per cent, from 132.3/100,000 population to 67.0/ 100,000 population. The upper two classes of census tracts, with 40 per cent of the 1960 general population, contained in 1961 the offices of 51.5 per cent of the general practitioners, 90.2 per cent of the internists, pediatricians and obstetrician-gynecologists, and 93.5 per cent of the other specialists who were community-based. A declining supply of generalists across all levels of society, the advancing age of the remaining generalists, and the failure of other physicians to establish their practices in lower-class areas have led to the scarcity of primary care for the poor.