Physician assistant specialty choice: Distribution, salaries, and comparison with physicians.
OBJECTIVE
To describe trends in physician assistant (PA) specialty distribution, compare these trends with physicians, and quantify the relationship of PA specialty prevalence with both PA and physician salary.


METHODS
PA specialty and salary data were obtained from the 2013 American Academy of PAs' Annual Survey; physician specialty and salary data from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile and the Medical Group Management Association. Analyses included descriptive statistics and linear regression.


RESULTS
The proportion of PAs working in primary care decreased from 50% in 1997 to 30% in 2013. Substantial growth in PA proportions occurred in surgical and medical subspecialties. Regression models showed a higher prevalence of PAs in specialties with higher PA salary, higher physician salary, and higher physician-to-PA salary ratio (P<0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
PAs are moving toward subspecialty practice. Our study suggests that demand for PAs may be an important factor driving the trend toward specialization.
In the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C., Perri Morgan is a professor, Christine M. Everett is an assistant professor, and Katherine M. Humeniuk is a research analyst. Virginia L. Valentin is an assistant professor in the PA program at the University of Kentucky College of Health Sciences in Lexington, Ky. The authors have disclosed no potential conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise.
Perri
P
Morgan
Christine M
CM
Everett
Katherine M
KM
Humeniuk
Virginia L
VL
Valentin
D006801:Humans; D008511:Medicine; D010823:Physician Assistants / Q000191:economics*; D010820:Physicians; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D013038:Specialization; D014481:United States