Understanding the landscape of healthcare in the United States requires insight into its physician workforce. The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) provides a comprehensive resource for this vital information through the U.S. Physician Workforce Data Dashboard. This interactive tool offers the most current data on practicing physicians across various specialties within the US and its territories.
This dashboard is a significant compilation, merging data previously available in the Physician Specialty Data Report and the State Physician Workforce Data Report. It’s designed to be an accessible and dynamic tool for anyone seeking detailed statistics about active physicians in the major medical specialties – specifically those with over 2,500 active physicians.
What kind of data can you find? The dashboard breaks down the physician workforce in several key ways. You can explore the number of physicians by their specialty, offering a clear picture of the distribution of doctors across different fields of medicine. Furthermore, it calculates the number of people per direct patient care physician within each specialty, highlighting potential access to care variations. Demographic data is also readily available, including physician age, sex, race/ethnicity, and primary professional activity. For those interested in physician training, the dashboard includes data on medical school location and the type of U.S. medical degree obtained.
The U.S. Physician Workforce Data Dashboard draws upon several reliable primary sources to ensure accuracy and comprehensiveness. The cornerstone is the American Medical Association Physician Professional Data (AMA PPD), which is updated annually through physician surveys and other sources. Demographic information, specifically race and ethnicity, is gathered from various AAMC sources, prioritizing self-reported data for the most accurate representation. Population data from the U.S. Census Bureau is utilized to calculate the crucial metric of people per physician. Data on undergraduate medical education (UME) comes from the AAMC Student Records System and the AMCAS® program for MD-granting institutions. For osteopathic medicine, enrollment data is sourced from the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine. Graduate medical education (GME) data is obtained from GME Track®, a comprehensive resident database managed by the AMA and AAMC.
Looking ahead, the AAMC plans to expand the dashboard’s capabilities. Future updates will incorporate data on physicians in Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) residency and fellowship programs, providing an even more complete view of the physician pipeline. Users are encouraged to revisit the dashboard periodically to access these forthcoming enhancements and the most up-to-date information on the U.S. physician workforce.
