Number of physician assistants continues to grow

The number of physician assistants (PAs) entering the workforce has reached a record high, according to the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). In 2023, a total of 11,762 PA students achieved board certification, marking the largest group of newly certified PAs in history, according to the NCCPA’s annual 2023 Statistical Profile of Recently Board Certified PAs. These certified PAs are now practicing across the country, with notable concentrations in New York, California, and Florida.

“As the health care landscape evolves, PAs are increasingly playing a key role in delivering quality patient care,” said Dawn Morton-Rias, president and CEO, NCCPA, in a statement. “The number of newly certified PAs in 2023 shows the increasing reliance on these health care professionals.”

Increasing diversity among new PAs

Since 2019, there has been a noticeable rise in racial and ethnic diversity among newly certified PAs, with higher representation among Asian, Black/African American, multi-race, American Indian or Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander PAs. Notably, the percentage of PAs of Hispanic/Latino/a or Spanish origin grew from 7.9% in 2019 to 10% in 2023.

“The growing diversity among newly certified PAs is an encouraging trend that brings the PA profession closer to the increasing diversity of the patient population,” Morton-Rias said. “Increasing clinician diversity brings a wealth of perspectives to the PA profession and subsequent patient experience, ultimately benefiting patient care.”

Career preparedness and job market success

The survey found that 39.5% of newly certified PAs feel very prepared to enter their careers, with another 55.4% feeling somewhat prepared. Only a small fraction (4.7%) reported feeling unprepared. Job acceptance rates have also increased slightly since 2019, with 60.6% of new PAs having accepted a job. Among those who found employment, 32.5% secured a position within a month, with an average search duration of 2.5 months. Furthermore, 78.5% received two or more job offers, up from 70.9% in 2019.

Among the new PAs who accepted jobs, the majority (52.5%) are working in hospital settings, up 2.5% from 2019, while 27.7% joined office-based private practices, marking a slight decrease from four years ago. Family medicine/general practice remains the most popular specialty at 17.1%, though it experienced a small decline. Emergency medicine, at 17.0%, saw a proportional increase of 1.6% since 2019.

Salary growth and incentives

The median salary for newly certified PAs reached $105,000 in 2023, up from $95,000 in 2019. Income guarantees were the most valued employment incentive, with 67.2% of new PAs reporting that they received job-related incentives. Reimbursement for Continuing Medical Education (CME) and certification maintenance ranked highly, with 58.9% of PAs emphasizing the importance of these benefits.

With the ongoing growth of PA programs, the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) projects that the number of accredited PA education programs will rise from 310 in July 2024 to 353 by 2027. This expansion reflects the increasing demand for PAs as they continue to play an integral role in health care delivery across the United States.