The number of actively licensed physicians has grown, but those physicians are also growing older, according to a Federation of State Medical Boards report published in the Journal of Medical Regulation.

A bill introduced to the House of Representatives would offer an electronic health record penalty exemption to near retirement-age physicians who fail to adopt systems, according Medscape.

Here are six points comparing spine surgeon compensation. The data is from MGMA's Physician Compensation and Production Survey: 2010 Report Based on 2009 Data and Physicians Compensation and Production Survey: 2011 Report Based on 2010 Data, unless otherwise noted.

Seventy percent of physicians plan to work longer until retirement due to the economic downturn and depleted personal savings, according to the Jackson & Coker Retirement Survey.

Succession planning is important for orthopedic surgeons to maximize returns from their practice as they head on to greener pastures. If a good plan isn't in place, surgeons risk soiling a good relationship with their partners and losing a great deal of money.

At $38,488, joint replacement surgeons receive by far the highest compensation in retirement benefits when compared to other orthopedic subspecialists, according to MGMA's Physician Compensation Survey: 2011 Report Based on 2010 Data. The amount is in excess of $10,000 more than general orthopedic surgeons and $3,000-$4,000 more than the next highest subspecialists: sports medicine and orthopedic trauma surgeons.

1. Average compensation is in the mid-range for orthopedic subspecialists. Orthopedic trauma surgeons are compensated on average $592,536 annually, which is less than spine ($710,055) and joint replacement surgeons ($597,834) but more than general orthopedic surgeons ($524,250) and extremities specialists ($531,271), according to MGMA's Physician Compensation and Production Survey: 2010 Report Based on 2009 Data.

While Florida gained more than 27,000 RNs in the past two years, losses to the nurse workforce erased 60 percent of that gain, according to a report by the Jacksonville Business Journal.

The number of licensed registered nurses in the United States grew by 5.3 percent from 2004-2008 to a record 3.06 million, but almost half of RNs are over age 50, according to a release by the Health Resources and Services Administration.