Physician assistant is one of the newest roles in the U.S. healthcare industry, but it’s also one of the fastest-growing jobs, not just in the healthcare sector but in the country. As of 2018, there were 114,000 PAs treating patients across the United States. This rose to more than 158,000 by the end of 2021, including a 97% increase in the number of PAs providing emergency medicine in urgent care settings. That job growth isn’t finished yet, either. Roughly a third of currently practicing PAs report their employers are actively recruiting these professionals.
The shortage of healthcare workers is a significant concern for the broader population, but there’s a silver lining for those interested in healthcare careers. There are ample job opportunities for those with PA education and certification. Let’s take a closer look at what’s causing this growth, whether it’s likely to continue, and what that means for people considering physician assistant programs or careers as PAs.
Are physician assistants in demand right now?
The short answer to this question is yes. There are ample employment opportunities for PAs in clinics, hospitals, community health centers, and other medical facilities across the country. Part of this is because of the expanding need for healthcare services across the board. Medical facilities around the world are still recovering from the pandemic, which not only strained the healthcare system with more patients but brought more awareness to underserved areas and other gaps in the healthcare infrastructure that are only beginning to be addressed.
One of the reasons for this demand is the ongoing shortage of doctors. The Association of American Medical Colleges predicts there will be a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians by 2034, and while the shortage is most severe in primary care providers, it affects every area of healthcare. Along with nurse practitioners, PAs are helping to fill in this care gap. As of August 2022, 51% of primary care providers were PAs or NPs, as opposed to doctors.
The flexibility of the physician assistant role is one of its main benefits for employers, and the role will continue to get more flexible as more states pass legislation increasing its autonomy. A physician assistant can perform most of the same duties as a doctor, including gathering patient information, developing and administering treatments, assisting in surgery, diagnosing illnesses, prescribing medications, and providing emergency medical care.
Most in-demand PA specialties
The majority of physician assistants today work in a general health care or family practice setting. As of 2022, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 54% of PAs work in private practices, followed by 24% in hospitals and 8% in outpatient care centers.
Since PAs get training as general medical providers, it’s common for them to work in a variety of specialties. According to data from the American Academy of Physician Assistants, 49% of PAs have reported two or more specialities at different points in their career. The NCCPA 2020 Statistical Profile of Certified PAs shows that surgical subspecialties and family medicine are currently the most popular, followed by emergency medicine, internal medicine, and dermatology.
As the doctor shortage continues and the PA role and field continue to grow, it’s likely the demand for specific specializations will shift. For example, while only 1.8% of PAs specialized in psychiatry in 2020, that’s a significant increase (38%) over the 1.3% in the specialty in 2016. Other growing specialties include oncology, pediatrics, hospice care, and neurology.
Regions with the most demand for PAs
Demand for PAs is growing across all 50 US states, as well as around the world, though that growth isn’t happening at the same rate everywhere. The states with the most physician assistant jobs are New York (13,750), California (11,490), Texas (8,990), Florida (7,310), and Pennsylvania (7,300). Within those states, PAs tend to be most concentrated in urban areas, such as the greater New York City metro area, the greater Los Angeles area, the Dallas-Fort Worth metro, and the Philadelphia urban area.
One thing to keep in mind is that these figures come from total job numbers. It stands to reason, then, that the most-populated areas would have the most PAs. When you instead look at the ratio of physician assistants to the general population in the NCCPA report linked above, it reveals a different picture. New York and Pennsylvania remain high on that list, joined by northeast and New England states like Connecticut and Maine, as well as western states like Idaho, Montana, and Utah.
Those who are just finishing their training in PA programs will likely be more interested in the job market of the future than what’s happening right now. One way to gauge that is to look at the regions with the most change in PA employment. The states that saw the most growth in PA employment from 2016-2020 were Rhode Island, Mississippi, Arkansas, Indiana, and Nevada.
Growth of the PA field over time
The first physician assistants entered the field more than 50 years ago, as part of Duke University’s 1967 graduating class. The career path was conceived of to solve the same problem they often address today: a shortage of primary care physicians, particularly in underserved rural and inner-city areas.
The field has been growing steadily ever since, and especially so in the past twenty years. This is in part thanks to 1997 legislation that recognized PAs as covered providers under Medicare. Three years later, Mississippi became the final state to authorize physician assistants to practice, expanding them into all 50 US states.
The growth trajectory of physician assistant jobs since the late 1990s has been nothing short of remarkable. You can see it, not just in the number of jobs, but also in the number of PA programs. In 1998, there were 110 accredited PA programs, a figure that more than doubled by 2018.
There are a number of factors in this growth. Part of it comes from an increased awareness about the physician assistant profession and how it can be valuable in a variety of healthcare settings. Just as influential, however, is the way the role itself has expanded over that time. As late as 1998, PAs couldn’t prescribe medication in all states, for example, but that has since changed. Physician assistants are also recognized by more insurers and medical boards than in the early years of the position, making them a viable option for a wider range of hospitals and patients.
Projected occupation growth through 2031
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the physician assistant field is projected to grow by 28% from 2021-2031. That’s significantly higher than the 5% growth rate that’s predicted across all occupations. Putting that into the number of jobs, there were just over 139,000 physician assistant roles in 2021, with another 38,400 positions expected to be added to that by 2031.
The role of the physician assistant is also likely to expand in the coming years. In the past, PAs needed to be under the direct supervision of physicians, and in many states a supervisor agreement with a physician is necessary to even obtain a license. The Optimal Team Practice policy implemented in 2019 suggests eliminating the supervising physician requirement. North Dakota was the first state to enact legislation making physician assistants responsible for the patient care they provide and removing the supervision requirement. West Virginia has also removed the supervision requirement for PAs in hospitals, and a total of 11 states have changed the language of PA regulations from requiring supervision to working in collaboration with other healthcare providers.
It’s yet to be seen exactly how these changes will impact the job outlook for PAs across the country, but it’s likely to further accelerate growth in the states that have adopted OTP adjustments to their regulations. In addition to the 11 states that altered their supervision requirements, many others increased the total number of PAs a single physician can supervise, while others expanded the types of medication PAs can prescribe and the procedures they’re licensed to perform.
For aspiring physician assistants and current PA students, this all adds up to good news. The number and type of roles professionals can get with a PA Master’s degree is growing, and the administrative obstacles to getting these jobs are diminishing.
FAQs
What is the average salary of a physician assistant?
The answer to that varies widely depending on where you work and how much experience you have. On the low end, an entry-level physician assistant should expect to earn at least $60,000-$70,000 per year, even in relatively low-paying markets. Salaries rise quickly as you gain experience, however. The median and mean income for a PA in the United States are both around $115,000 per year, and the highest 10% earn $160,000 per year or more, with 3% of PAs earning a salary over $200,000 per year.
Is burnout a problem for physician assistants? Which work environment has the lowest rates of burnout?
Like other patient-facing jobs in the medical profession, physician assistant jobs can be demanding, involving long work hours and potentially high levels of stress. Yet PAs report experiencing burnout at a lower rate than nurse practitioners, surgeons, and other medical professionals. Across specialties, 70%-80% report no symptoms of burnout. The specialties with the lowest reported rates of burnout are dermatology, general surgery, orthopedic surgery, pediatrics, and physical medicine and rehabilitation. The highest burnout rates align with those for nurses, and include critical care and emergency medicine.
Which healthcare facilities are hiring the most physician assistants right now?
Physician assistants are most needed in critical care environments. On the NCCPA 2020 Statistical Profile, 58.7% of PAs working in critical care say their employer is currently actively recruiting more physician assistants, and more than 24% of open positions in this area have remained unfilled for 5 months or more.