More Women, DOs Among Licensed Physicians

The latest census of physician licensees shows a growing population of female physicians and those with a doctor of osteopathic medicine (DO) degree.

In 2022, 37% of the physician workforce was female, compared with 30% in 2010, according to the Federation of State Medical Boards’ (FSMB) biennial “Census of Licensed Physicians in the U.S.” The number of licensed female physicians grew by 54% since 2010, compared with an 11% increase for male physicians, reported Aaron Young, PhD, of the FSMB, and colleagues.

In addition, the percentage of DOs in the physician workforce rose to 11% from 7% during that time, and the number of doctors with a DO degree grew 89% from 2010 to 2022, compared with an 18% increase for MDs, they noted in the Journal of Medical Regulation.

“The data in the 2022 census illustrates how dramatically the physician population has grown and diversified since 2010,” said Humayun Chaudhry, DO, president and CEO of the FSMB, in a statement.

Overall, there were 1,044,734 physicians in the U.S. and the District of Columbia in 2022 — a workforce that was 23% larger than it was in 2010, when the FSMB launched the census. That figure amounted to a physician-to-population ratio of 313 licensed physicians per 100,000 people.

Those 1 million physicians possessed a total of 1,540,283 licenses, Young and co-authors noted. Since 2020, there’s been a significant increase in the number of new licenses issued by state medical boards, a trend driven by use of the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact and the rising use of telehealth, which was particularly spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the vast majority of U.S. physicians have just one license (76%), 16% have two licenses and 8% have three or more, according to the report.

The physician population is aging in parallel with the general population, with the number of licensed physicians ages 60 and up increasing by 54% since 2010. The average age for licensed physicians in the U.S. continues to rise steadily, with a mean age of 51.9 years in 2022, compared with 50.6 years in 2010.

Young and colleagues noted that 22% of the physician population is 65 or older, “widely viewed as the traditional retirement age in the U.S.”

An accompanying infographic also showed that 85% of licensed physicians hold one or more specialty board certifications from the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) or the American Osteopathic Association board. It also showed that 77% of licensed physicians graduated from a U.S. or Canadian medical school, and 23% are international medical graduates.

Data for the census report come from FSMB’s Physician Data Center, a secure national repository of medical licensure, disciplinary, educational, and demographic data for all physicians actively licensed to practice medicine in the U.S.; Washington, D.C.; and the U.S. territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

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