An analysis of the specialty and geographic location of physician assistants in the United States

The emergence of the physician assistant (PA) profession in the United States during the past decade has been accompanied by an expectation that this new group of health professionals would help to remedy the shortage of primary care physicians, particularly in medically underserved areas. These expectations have been confirmed by recent studies: approximately three-fourths of the PAs in the United States are working in primary care specialties and one-half are working in communities of 50,000 persons or less. The purpose of the present report is to identify within the PA profession those who are more likely to have chosen employment in a primary care field or in a rural medically underserved area.