Physician Assistant Workforce - Will Supply Meet the Demand?
February 7th, 2012 2 Min readTimes are changing. It is refreshing and exciting to see college students now declare that they want to be a PA in the future. This is certainly different from just 15 years ago when I was on my journey toward a PA career as a student in the Duke PA program.
This year, 17,000 PA applicants are estimated to be competing for 5,550 seats nationwide. There is a significant proliferation of PA programs all across the country, and North Carolina is no exception, going from four programs to eight within the next year.
Most PA leaders will agree that much more data is needed on PA contributions to the healthcare workforce, as research is small but growing. If you recall our CompHealth webinar last year on meeting the challenges of health care reform, Dr. Therus Kolff and I discussed some of the changes that have occurred in the healthcare workforce resulting in increased utilization of PAs and NPs on clinical teams.
In the 1960s, studies began to indicate we would not have enough primary care physicians, particularly in rural areas. As primary care demands grew, so did the demand for primary care PAs and NPs. As physician specialties were "stressed" by a flat supply but increasing demand, opportunities grew for mid-level providers not only in primary care, but across more specialties as well.
Cooper et al (see reference 1) projected "provider shortages" in the range of 150,000 to 200,000 by 2020. The AAMC (American Association of Medical Colleges) predicts only a shortfall of "91,500" by 2020. NP and PA programs have not been able to ramp up and fully supplement the decreasing physician supply (in this case provider supply), even when you add in the increasing numbers of PAs and NPs.
At the community level, there remains a physician and PA and NP shortage. How will educational programs meet the demand? More programs are taking advantage of federal training grants to assist program expansion, but clinical training and preceptor sites remain a challenge to recruit even at established, existing programs.
You can help by encouraging and supporting clinical providers to precept students. Ensuring quality healthcare education for learners is critical to the success of this overall system expansion. All of us currently in established clinical roles gained training and experience from our teachers and clinical preceptors.
Are you doing your part to help the greater system? What do you think about the proliferation of programs nationwide?
Reference: Cooper, Richard A. New Directions for Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants in the Era of Physician Shortages. Academic Medicine, Vol. 82, No. 9 / September 2007.