CDC Surveillance System: Primary Care Physicians by Specialty in the U.S.

Counts of Primary Care Physicians^a by Year and Specialty American Medical Association
Specialty	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Internal Medicine	92,976	96,469	100,400	101,573	104,397	108,054	108,986	109,860	110,686	108,179	111,309	113,121	115,351
Family Practice	66,055	68,453	71,760	73,076	75,630	78,835	79,947	81,001	82,273	82,908	84,508	86,229	88,198
General Practice	15,432	14,712	13,694	13,109	12,743	10,099	9,878	9,181	8,793	8,243	7,160	6,705	6,378
Total	174,463	179,634	185,854	187,758	192,770	196,988	198,811	200,042	201,752	199,330	202,977	206,055	209,927

Footnotes:
^a Adapted from the American Medical Association (2001-2015).

In 2013, there were 209,927 primary care providers in the United States.

This translates to ~1 primary care provider per 140 adult U.S. residents with CKD stages 1-4.

Chart Explanation: In 2013, there were 209,927 primary care providers in the United States. The numbers of primary care providers has increased by ~29,000 (~14% increase) since 1999. The percentage listing general practice as their specialty has declined over this period, while the percentage listing family medicine or internal medicine as their specialty has increased. There were approximately 140 adult (>=20 years) CKD patients per U.S. primary care provider in 2013, using NHANES estimates.

The American Medical Association (AMA) tracks data on all physicians in the United States, starting in medical school. Current demographic, training, practice and specialty data are available through the AMA Physician Masterfile. The Physician Characteristics volumes (AMA, 2001-2013) produce yearly counts of physicians by specialty, and counts of physicians listed as “providing medical care” (versus research, teaching, or administrative tasks) were counted here; resident/fellow/staff and office- and hospital-based physicians were included.

Field	Data
Description of Measure	Numbers of primary care physicians and nephrologists
Data Source	AMA
Type of Data Source	Private
Data Set	Physician Masterfile
Health Care System Data	No
Regional or National?	National
Demographic Group	AMA physicians
Numerator	Counts by physician specialty
Primary Data Source Indicator	Counts by physician specialty
Primary Indicator Method of Measurement	Physician-reported specialty
Frequency of Measurement (Primary)	Continual updates
U.S. Region Covered by Primary Variable	All
Period Currently Available	2013
Pending Data	2014
Additional Data Items of Interest	Physician demographics, training
Limitations of Indicator	Physicians may not keep information current; not all physicians are members of AMA and thus may be harder to track over time; specialty is self-reported and may not reflect patient care
Analytic Considerations	CKD/ESRD prevalence data can be used for population denominator (per patient); only those listed as providing patient care should be included

References and Sources:

Smart DR. Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the US, 2010 Edition. Chicago, IL: Division of Survey & Data Resources, American Medical Association; 2009.

Suggested Citation:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Chronic Kidney Disease Surveillance System—United States.
website. http://www.cdc.gov/ckd