FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: JUNE 1, 2015
Contact:
Leslie Champlin
Senior Public Relations Strategist
(800) 274-2237, Ext. 5224
lchampli@aafp.org
WASHINGTON — The research, Osteopathic Schools Are Producing More Graduates, But Fewer Are Practicing in Primary Care found that despite growth in the overall number of osteopathic school graduates, the number of graduates going into primary care did not increase at a proportional rate.
In fact, the number declined from a peak of 56 percent entering primary care in 1995 to 42 percent in 2005.
Researcher Kathleen Barnes, MD, MPH, and her Robert Graham Center colleagues, calculated the number of osteopathic graduates between 1985 and 2008. They then looked at the percentage of those who went into primary care practice. They found that although the total number of osteopathic graduates grew during that time, the subset of those going into primary care failed to keep pace.
The data mirror that for all primary care health professions, says Barnes.
Research agrees. The National Sample Survey of Nurse Practitioners shows 46 percent of NP graduates currently practice in primary care, compared to nearly 60 percent in 1992. The percentage of physician assistants working in primary care fell from 51 percent in 1996 to 31 percent in 2010. The Health Research Services Administration projects the supply of subspecialty physician assistants will more than double by 2025, noting “the anticipated changes in the supply of physician assistants by field parallels the changes seen with physicians…”
“The crisis in primary care health professions workforce is extensive,” said Barnes. “The trend away from primary care is affecting all health professions from all educational backgrounds. If this continues, the U.S. health care system will be top-heavy with subspecialists with dangerously few primary health care professionals, whether they’re osteopathic or allopathic physicians, nurse practitioners or physician assistants.”
Moreover, Shifting Sources of U.S. Primary Care Physicians, 2000 – 2014, also published in the June 15 American Family Physician, shows the proportion of primary care residents from international medical schools is increasing.
Robert Graham Center Medical Director Kathleen Klink, MD, FAAFP and her colleagues at the Robert Graham Center examined data from the AMA Physician Masterfile to determine the sources of primary care physicians from international medical schools and U.S. allopathic and osteopathic schools. They found that the total physician workforce grew between 2000 and 2014, with decreasing proportions of the active primary care workforce are graduates of U.S. allopathic schools between 2000 and 2014. The proportion of U.S. allopathic medical school graduates practicing primary care fell from 66.5 percent in 2000 to 60.5 percent in 2014, while the proportion of international medical graduates increased.
“U.S. allopathic medical schools are falling behind in their contributions to the primary care workforce. International and osteopathic graduates are increasingly filling the gap,” said Klink.
“The American public deserves access to high quality primary care services, but American medical schools, supported by public funds, are not delivering the needed physician workforce, relying instead on other nations, contributing to a global imbalance in the physician supply.
“We need investments in high quality meaningful clinical experiences where students are provided opportunities to excel in primary care learning during medical school. Just like a surgeon needs a fully staffed operating room, primary care needs the infrastructure to ensure provision of comprehensive, continuous, coordinated care for the American public.”
###
About the Robert Graham Center
The Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine and Primary Care works to improve individual and population health by enhancing the delivery of primary care. The Center staff generates and analyzes evidence that brings a family medicine and primary care perspective to health policy deliberations at local, state, and national levels.
Founded in 1999, the Robert Graham Center is an independent research unit affiliated with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). The information and opinions contained in research from the Center do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of the AAFP.