70% of PAs work in non-primary care specialties: 9 key statistics

National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants released the first ever workforce data on physician assistants across 22 specialties.

Advertisement

Here are nine statistics:

1. Only 30 percent of PAs work in primary care specialties.

2. Throughout the United States, there are 103 certified PAs for every 1,000 physicians.

3. In surgical specialties, there are 374 PAs for every 1,000 physicians.

4. The survey found 291 PAs for every 1,000 physicians in emergency medicine.

5. There are 275 PAs in dermatology per 1,000 physicians.

6. The top practice areas for PAs include family medicine (21.1 percent), emergency medicine (13.4 percent), orthopedic surgery (5.3 percent), general practice (4 percent) and hospital medicine (3.3 percent).

7. Of patients treated by PAs, 30 percent are Medicare patients and 20 percent are Medicaid patients.

8. Each week, certified PAs work 41 hours, on average.

9. The median PA age is 38 years.

More healthcare news:
AmSurg’s Q2 ambulatory EBIDTA totals $61.7M; Kelso acquires Physicians Endoscopy & more — 6 key notes on ASC companies
The benefits of a team-based approach to ASC infection control compliance
AHIP proposes changes to ACA to help payers reap profits: 4 takeaways

Advertisement

Next Up in ASC News

  • Here are six payer updates since the start of 2026 that ASC should know:  1. CMS finalized a 2.6% payment…

  • Noncompete agreements, and the laws that regulate them, are rapidly becoming one of the most consequential, and contested, issues in…

Advertisement

Comments are closed.