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Organizations across the globe have been sounding the alarm on looming healthcare workforce shortages. The US Health Resources and Services Administration projects a shortage of more than 180,000 full-time physicians — as well as more than 200,000 registered nurses — by 2037 if patterns of training, graduation, and labor force participation hold at current levels. Yet as healthcare stakeholders continue to worry about a future lack of doctors and nurses, there is one segment of healthcare providers that is slowly but surely growing: physician associates (PAs). And many hope PAs will be able to meet increased demand for skilled medical providers across the country.
The National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) 2024 Statistical Profile of Recently Board-Certified PAs reported new records for the number of newly minted PAs entering the workforce. A whopping 12,400 PAs earned their board certification, up from 11,762 the year prior and a nearly 25% bump from the numbers posted in 2020.
Andrzej Kozikowski, PhD, senior director of research at NCCPA, said the continued increase of qualified new PA providers demonstrates “the demand side of the demand/supply model” coming to life.
“Demand for new PAs is very strong right now,” he said. “One of the main reasons for the strong demand is the fact that a higher proportion of the US population is getting older. With that, there is more chronic disease. There’s more need for regular care. And when you couple that growing number of patients with ongoing physician shortages, particularly in primary care, there are a lot of gaps that need to be filled. And PAs can fill those gaps in care.”
About Medscape Data
Medscape continually surveys physicians and other medical professionals about key practice challenges and current issues, creating high-impact analyses. For example, the Medscape Physician Assistant Job Market Report 2025 found that:
- 39% of PAs surveyed said job openings in their market had somewhat increased in the past 3 years.
- 76% of PAs surveyed have been contacted by a recruiter in the past year.
- More than 60% said hiring demand was very high.
Beyond the Numbers
Survey data from NCCPA’s report not only show an increase in numbers but also demonstrate PAs’ readiness to hit the ground running to provide high-quality care to patients. To start, 94% of the newly certified PAs felt prepared to begin their careers. Overall, 78% reported receiving multiple job offers. And, on average, those PAs found positions after searching for less than 3 months.
Mirela Bruza-Augatis, PhD, MS, PA-C, research scientist at NCCPA, said this is not surprising — as PA programs must maintain rigorous standards for accreditation. This is one reason more healthcare organizations are actively seeking to hire PAs.
She said that the accreditation process holds PA programs accountable — and the university or institution that offers them is also held accountable, so PAs are ready to fill these jobs right away.
Deepthi Krishna, MPAS, PA-C, MBBS, who received her PA degree and certification in 2023, said the fact PAs are trained in the medical model, like physicians, makes them an obvious solution to help increase the number of healthcare providers, particularly in areas that are considered healthcare deserts.
“Even though we graduate with a master’s degree, we are taking 30, 40 more credits than healthcare specialties that are doctorate trained,” she said. “We are trained as generalists, go through a fast-paced but rigorous clinical program, and are ready to help solve the healthcare access problem, which is only getting worse and more bottlenecked with healthcare cost cuts.”
Certainly, the NCCPA report also highlights how many newly certified PAs are going to work in underserved areas. New PAs hailed from all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia. But nearly 14% stated they had accepted a position in a rural area, with another 9.7% saying they would be working in an urban medically underserved area.
Notably, 32% of those who took a job in a rural area grew up in a similar community, and 26% of those working in an urban medically underserved area could say the same. Krishna said having these kinds of strong community connections is an asset and is important when providing “holistic, high-quality care” to patients.
“There are a lot of communities where patients want to see providers who they identify with — who look like them, who talk like them, who know what they may be experiencing,” said Krishna. “So having more people come into these underserved areas, seeing more Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) pursue PA careers, can really help ensure that people in these different communities are getting the care they need.”
Coming to a Hospital Near You
When queried about where they were taking positions, more than half (50.6%) said they were going to work at a hospital. This was followed by an office-based private practice setting (29.3%), a community health center (4.6%), and urgent care (4.3%).
Kozikowski said the hospital practice setting overtook office-based private practice several years ago — and it is yet another data point that supports the idea that healthcare organizations increasingly value the role of PAs as part of coordinated care teams. As noted in another NCCPA survey, the 2024 Statistical Profile of Board-Certified PAs by Specialty, hospital departments such as critical care medicine, oncology, hospital medicine, cardiothoracic and vascular surgery, cardiology, and more are actively seeking qualified PAs.
With US News and World Report ranking the PA profession as one of the best in the country (#2 in healthcare jobs and #3 overall) — and the number of PA programs across the country continuing to grow — Krishna is not surprised. She believes that we will see more individuals pursuing PA jobs in the future.
“I often say that PA stands for patient access because we increase healthcare access,” she said. “I can see new PAs coming into hospital systems, hospitalist positions, surgical positions, all the specialties…they can help meet the gaps we see in primary care. Thanks to our education, both didactic and clinical, and the fact that we can move from specialty to specialty, we can step up and serve. We are highly skilled, highly trained, and can address the access and workforce shortages that are out there.”
Kayt Sukel is a healthcare and science writer based outside Houston.
