Make-Up of the U.S. Healthcare Workforce
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MD: Doctor of Medicine; NP: Nurse Practitioner; PA: Physician Assistant; DO: Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine; PT: Physical Therapist; CNA: Certified Nursing Assistant; CSW: Clinical Social Worker; OD: Doctor of Optometry; CH: Chiropractor (non-standard label); DPM: Doctor of Podiatric Medicine.
Medical Doctors (MDs) remain the most common clinicians in the U.S., but Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Physician Assistants (PAs) form a large and growing share of the healthcare workforce.
Note
A total of 2,829,975 observations were processed down to 1,458,652 observations representing unique individual clinicians nationwide. The data included 267,322 missing values (including 266,157 credentials). Therefore, the numbers reported in this post should be considered reasonable approximations.
Source:
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Doctors and Clinicians Data Files, Quality Payment Program, Performance Year 2022. Data as of 2022.