Analysis Shows Uneven Distribution of Emergency Physician Residency Programs

By Jonathan Springston, Editor, Relias Media

The number of emergency physician residency programs increased between 2013 and 2020, but many of those programs are clustered in urban areas, leaving gaps in rural areas, according to the authors of a recent analysis.

The good news is the number of emergency medicine residencies grew from 160 in 2013 to 265 in 2020. California, Florida, Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania recorded the biggest gains over this period.

However, there are 20 states that did not add any new programs; five states lack any emergency medicine residency programs (Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming). Conversely, the states that added programs were not exactly short in supply in the first place (for example, New York grew from 21 residency programs in 2013 to 31 by 2020).

Overall, the analysis authors reported there were 6,993 emergency medicine residents in the United States in 2020, 98% of whom work in urban areas. This has led to what the authors called an emergency physician “desert” in rural areas that lack both residents and residency training programs. In 2020, these same authors released another analysis that revealed a major staffing gap between urban and rural communities, as well as an overall aging workforce.

“Predictions of an oversupply of emergency physicians in the next decade may not apply to every part of the country,” Christopher L. Bennett, MD, MA, assistant professor of emergency medicine at Stanford and lead study author, said in a statement. “Regional differences over time need to be considered in any discussions of workforce challenges. These findings underscore the likelihood that rural emergency physician shortages will persist.”

For more on this and related subjects, be sure to read the latest issues of ED Management.