According to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, fewer than one out of three physicians in direct patient care are in primary care – family physicians, general practitioners, general internists, pediatricians and geriatricians. (The primary care count is lower than the numbers cited by the AMA, and the AHRQ fact sheet explains why).
Americans made nearly 956 million visits to office-based physicians in 2008. Just over half – 51.3 percent – were to primary care physicians.
The number of nurse practitioners and physicians assistants has risen, but it may come as a surprise to learn that the AHRQ-commissioned research found that just over half (52 percent ) of the 106,073 nurse practitioners and just 43 percent of the 70,383 physician assistants were practicing primary care. The rest were in specialty settings.