NP, PA, and Physician Employment Outlook

A new article in JAAPA presents current clinician employment data and 10-year predictions for NP, PA, and physician employment in the United States.

Highlights from the article:

• As of 2021, 698,700 physicians/surgeons, 246,690 NPs, and 139,100 PAs serve a U.S. population of 331.5 million people.
• As of 2021, approximately half of clinicians describe their practice location as a medical office; approximately 25% of physicians/PAs/NPs work in hospitals; outpatient settings account for 10% or less of clinician employment locations.
• Over the next decade, NP employment is expected to grow by 46% and PA employment is expected to grow by 28%. Physician/surgeon employment is only expected to grow by 3%.
• Explanations for why employment growth is anticipated to be much higher for APPs than physicians/surgeons:
  • Building a new medical school costs much more than adding a PA department or NP program to a university.
  • Resident physician training programs in hospitals have not expanded, and with the increased demand for inpatient services, APPs are now being hired to fill hospitalist positions.
  • APPs are paid less than half of what it costs to employ a physician, so it is more economical to hire a PA or NP [1].

The authors conclude that the makeup of the U.S. clinician workforce will continue to transform over the next decade.

Nikki Rataj Casady, DMSc, PA-C

email@appcolleague.org