title: Women, family medicine, and career choice: An opportunity cost analysis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study compared the cost of physician versus physician assistant (PA) education for women practicing in family medicine.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using 2013 salary survey data from both the Medical Group Management Association and the American Academy of PAs as well as other publicly available data sources, the authors compared the current net present value (NPV) of physician and PA training for women practicing in family medicine.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Considering a base case scenario involving a 24-year-old woman, the NPV to become a family medicine physician was $2,015,000 compared with an NPV of $1,751,000 to become a family medicine PA. Alternative projections produced an NPV for PA training that slightly exceeded the NPV for family medicine physician training.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For a woman practicing in family medicine, becoming a physician or a PA offers similar financial rewards.
authors: Alison C. Essary is director of academic partnerships in the College of Health Solutions, associate director and a clinical associate professor in the School for the Science of Healthcare Delivery, and a faculty member of Barrett, the honors college at Arizona State University in Phoenix. Bettie H. Coplan is director of online graduate education and a clinical associate professor in the School for the Science of Healthcare Delivery at Arizona State University. James F. Cawley is a professor in the Department of Prevention and Community Health in the School of Public Health and Health Services and professor in the PA program at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Eugene S. Schneller is a professor and Dean's Council of 100 Distinguished Scholars in the Department of Supply Chain Management in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Robert L. Ohsfeldt is a professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management in the School of Rural Public Health at Texas A&M Health Science Center in College Station, Tex.
authors: Alison C
authors: AC
authors: Essary
authors: Bettie H
authors: BH
authors: Coplan
authors: James F
authors: JF
authors: Cawley
authors: Eugene S
authors: ES
authors: Schneller
authors: Robert L
authors: RL
authors: Ohsfeldt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002321:Career Choice; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010823:Physician Assistants / Q000191:economics*; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D055815:Young Adult