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Current Family Practice Jobs - Primary Care Physician Demographics
In the 1990s a claxon warned of the shortage of primary care physicians,
especially family practice physicians. As a result, there was a
major shift in the training of young physicians: more medical
students were directed to primary care residencies, and new
family practice rotations and residencies were put in place all
over the country. The number of family practice physicians swelled
- the AMA (ref.1) found that from 1997 to 2002 the number of family
practice physicians practicing in the US jumped by 18% to 76,511.
This exceeded the growth of other specialities, even the other major
primary care speciality internal medicine, which grew by 11% in
the same period.
According to a recent article in Medical Economics (ref. 2), the
rapid growth in the number of family practice physicians outstripped
the growth in family practice jobs. As a result, it is much more
difficult to find family practice jobs than it is to find internal
medicine jobs.
The median family practice physician
salary sits around $142,000. While salary level varies by region
and experience, family practice salaries, and primary care salaries
in general, buck the trend in being higher in rural areas than in
major cities. The median annual bonus for family practitioners is
nearly $6500. (Ref. 3)
Outlook For Family Practice Jobs
While the general outlook for physicians is good, it is unclear
what the future holds for the family practice field. The AMA remains
in favor of continuing to grow the number of family practice physicians,
noting that primary care shortages still exist in underserved areas
of the country. In addition, it is becoming more difficult to fill
FP positions with international medical graduates.
Others, however, argue that the number of family practice residency
spots should remain constant. In 2004, only 79% of family practice
residency spots were filled (ref. 2). The Council on Graduate
Medical Education (COGME, ref. 4) has recently suggested increasing
the number of US medical graduates by 15%, however, they also
suggest that there be no increase in family practice residencies.
Edward Salsberg, director of workforce studies for the Association
of American Medical Colleges, was recently quoted by Medical Economics
(ref. 2) as pushing for patience to see if the demand for family
practitioners increases after the workforce expansion in the 1990s:
"...I wouldn't recommend expansion in family medicine or pediatric
residency slots. Family physicians had this big ramp-up in the
'90s, and you have to give it a little more time to see whether
demand is going to pick up."
Locum
Tenens
Family Practice locum tenens positions are still available, but
most are to be found rural or otherwise underserved regions of
the U.S. Salary levels for these jobs are somewhat higher than
the national median, given the location of most of the open family
practice jobs.
References
1. American Medical Association
2. Jobs
2004: Primary care outlook - Medical Economics, May 2004
3. Salary.com
4. Council on Graduate Medical
Education
Physician
jobs and employment - information on employment opportunities
for a variety of medical and surgical specialties; with a focus
on the physician's
job search.
Physician
resource - a discussion of online resources for physicians
in the US.
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