The Division of Workforce and Medical Education Policy guides the Academy in the advocacy and development of public policy related to the health care workforce and the education of physicians.

Issues under the Division's purview include the funding of medical education, the regulation of the physician workforce through federal legislation and appropriations, the scope of practice of nonphysicians, the diversity of the physician and patient populations, physician retirement patterns, and physician reentry into practice. The Division addresses these issues through collaboration with federal agencies, regulatory authorities, and other health care organizations engaged in policy development.

The Division also staffs the Committee on Pediatric Workforce (COPW), which formulates AAP workforce policy, and the Committee on Pediatric Education (COPE), which serves as thinktank of content experts on educational issues, from medical school through continuing medical education.

NEW! National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) - Match Day 2008

Thursday, March 20, 2008 is Match Day, when graduates of medical schools are matched to their residency programs. Click here for a Powerpoint with charts and graphs illustrating the performance of pediatrics in the Match, . A short summary also appears online in AAP News. A full-feature article will follow in the May 2008 issue.

Physician Reentry into the Workforce
Many physicians, particularly women, leave practice, and then wish to reenter the physician workforce after an extended period of time away from clinical medicine. The reasons range from childbearing and caring for elderly relatives to substance abuse and loss of licensure. When a physician wishes to return to practice, what kind of retraining is needed? How is the person's clinical competence evaluated? What role in the workforce should the individual pursue? How should licensure and credentialing issues be addressed? The Academy, in collaboration with 20 other medical organizations, is exploring these and many other important questions related to physician reentry into the workforce. To learn more about what the Academy and its partners are doing in this area, visit the Reentry Web page.

Women in Pediatrics
With women comprising over 50% of pediatricians and 60% of pediatric residents, gender has a important influence on the pediatrician workforce. The issues range from part-time practice and balancing professional and personal lives to building leadership skills and advancement within academic medicine. Working with partners, such as the American Medical Association Women Physicians Congress and the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Division has undertaken a number of activities to study this critical issues. More information on these issues can be found on the Women in Pediatrics Web page.

Pediatric Subspecialty Workforce Fact Sheets (2007)

Adolescent medicine	Infectious diseases
Allergy	Neonatology
Anesthesiology	Nephrology
Cardiology	Ophthalmology
Child and adolescent psychiatry	Orthopedics
Child neurology	Otolaryngology
Critical care	Pulmonology
Emergency medicine	Radiology
Endocrinology	Rheumatology
Gastroenterology	Surgery
Hematology-oncology	Urology

Other Workforce Resources
International Medical Graduates (IMG) Fact Sheet (2007)
Suggested Links to Workforce Information (2008)

Frequently Asked Questions

• How many pediatricians are there in the United States?
  According to the American Medical Association Masterfile, there were 57,200 general pediatricians in the United States in 2006, the most recent year for which data are available. There were also an additional 3,904 physicians trained jointly in internal medicine-pediatrics. Finally, there were 21,160 pediatric medical subspecialists, pediatric surgical specialists, and other specialist physicians who provide care to children. This accounts for an overall pediatric workforce (not counting care provided by family physicians) of 82,264. Smart DR, Sellers J, eds. Physician Characteristics and Distribution in the US, 2008 Edition. Chicago, Ill: American Medical Association, 2008.
  
  
• How many children are there in the United States?
  The US Census Bureau estimates that as of July 1, 2006, the most recent year for which data are available, there were approximately 82,079,106 children between 0-19 in the United States. US Bureau of the Census. Table 2: Annual Estimates of the Population by Selected Age Groups and Sex for the United States: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006. Available at: http://www.census.gov/popest/national/asrh/NC-EST2006-sa.html. Accessed February 15, 2008.
  
  
• What is the ideal pediatrician-to-population ratio?
  As the circumstances of each local health market vary widely, there is no ideal ratio. Many factors dictate the appropriate ratio between physicians and patients, including number of uninsured patients in the market, referral patterns, the presence of nonphysician clinicians, commuting patterns for subspecialty care, disease burden of the community, the presence of an academic medical center, and number of physicians.
  
  
• How much do pediatricians earn?
  A number of physician compensation surveys have been conducted and are available for purchase from the organizations that sponsored them. For example, Cejka Search, a national health care executive and physician search firm, has placed the mean salary for pediatricians in 2007 at $125,000 for physicians just starting practice, and at $185,913 for pediatricians overall. However, reported salaries vary considerably by search firm, part of the country, practice arrangement, career stage and other factors. Available at: http://www.cejkasearch.com/compensation/amga_physician_compensation_survey.htm Accessed February 15, 2008.
  
  
• Is there a pediatrician shortage?
  Although there has been considerable coverage in the medical and secular press on an impending shortage of physicians, pediatrics does not seem to be experiencing such a shortage. According to policy developed by the AAP Committee on Pediatric Workforce, pediatrics is training an adequate number of residents to meet the needs of the pediatric patient population. The Committee notes that "the current pediatrician workforce seems adequate to meet the health needs of US children, although significant regional variations may result in local shortages or oversupply, and subspecialty gaps remain to be addressed." In the case of pediatrics, the most pressing issues are the geographic maldistribution of physicians, particularly in rural and urban underserved areas, and the number of pediatric subspecialists in most specialty disciplines, although recent data from the American Board of Pediatrics suggests that the supply of subpecialists is improving. AAP Committee on Pediatric Workforce. Pediatrician Workforce Statement. Pediatrics. 2005 Jul;116(1):263-269.