By Bruce Japsen, Forbes, Contributor
FEBRUARY 19, 2016 – Physician assistants are so in demand to treat the nation’s newly insured patients they are coming close to primary care physicians as the health professional most in need at U.S. hospitals and health systems, according to a new ranking.
The most frequently placed medical care provider has long been primary care doctors like family physicians and internists as well as hospitalists, who are generally trained in internal medicine and work exclusively inside a hospital.
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But a new report by The Medicus Firm, a national doctor staffing and placement firm shows it’s not physicians, but physician assistants who are climbing the ranks on the healthcare profession’s demand scale. PAs, as they are known in the healthcare industry, are more desired than most specialist physicians.
Placement Specialties 2016. Source: The Medicus Firm
“ For the 3rd consecutive year, the three most-placed providers were family medicine, internal medicine and hospitalist ,” Medicus said in its 2016 placement summary. “However, internal medicine did rise to second place in 2015, swapping ranks with hospitalist. Physician Assistants moved up the list yet again to become the fourth most-placed provider .”
Physician assistants overtook pediatricians in 2014 for fifth place and weren’t even in the top five in 2013, falling behind family medicine, hospitals, gastroenterology and orthopedic surgery.
The Medicus report bolsters findings from rankings by rival firms like MerrittHawkins, a subsidiary of AMN Healthcare Services (AHS), which has also shown PAs along with nurse practitioners more in demand than certain medical specialties.
As more Americans have the ability to pay for medical care thanks to health benefits under the Affordable Care Act, a national doctor shortage has worsened. That, however, has helped the PA profession.
A physician assistant is nationally certified by the commission and must be licensed in the states where they practice. Most have a two-year master’s degree, often from a program that runs about two years and includes three years of healthcare training, according to the American Academy of Physician Assistants. They work in doctor’s offices, retail clinics and other locations and their work includes diagnosing illnesses, writing prescriptions and counseling patients on preventive care.
