This study sought to assess physician assistant (PA) wages, make comparisons with other healthcare professionals, and project their earnings to 2025. The Bureau of Labor Statistics PA employment datasets were probed, and 2013 wages were used to explore median wage differences between large employer categories and 14 years of historical data (2000-2013). Median wages of PAs, family physicians and general practitioners, pharmacists, registered nurses, advanced practice nurses, and physical therapists were compared. Linear regression was used to project the PA median wage to 2025. In 2013, the median hourly wage for a PA employed in a clinical role was $44.70. From 2000 to 2013, PA wages increased by 40% compared with the cumulative inflation rate of 35.3%. This suggests that demand exceeds supply, a finding consistent with similar clinicians such as family physicians. A predictive model suggests that PA employment opportunities and remuneration will remain high through 2025.
Objective:Employment analyses demonstrate that physician assistants (PAs) exhibit role flexibility in US medicine. The next step in understanding this labor-shifting observation is to know at what career stage it first occurs.Methods:Using matriculate data linked to the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) census survey data, a longitudinal analysis of seven graduate cohorts revealed that one-third of PAs changed specialty roles at least once during their first decade of employment.Results:From this series, it appears that new PAs spend about 3.4 years in their first job, on average, before they decide to move to another medical or surgical field. In examining PAs who changed their clinical role during this time period, 28% shifted from primary care to another medical or specialty role. Overall, the PA career movement to nonprimary care specialties increased substantially.Conclusions:These findings support observations that PAs provide an adaptive role in a dynamic and changing medical workforce.
The physician assistant (PA) profession is a health workforce innovation. This article discusses whether, after 50 years, the PA profession is still an innovation.
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