Skip to main content

Main menu

  • HOME
  • ARTICLES
    • Current Issue
    • Ahead of Print
    • Archives
    • Abstracts In Press
    • Special Issue Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • INFO FOR
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Call For Papers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • SUBMIT
    • Manuscript
    • Peer Review
  • ABOUT
    • The JABFM
    • Editorial Board
    • Indexing
    • Editors' Blog
  • CLASSIFIEDS
  • Other Publications
    • abfm

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
American Board of Family Medicine
  • Other Publications
    • abfm
American Board of Family Medicine

American Board of Family Medicine

Advanced Search

  • HOME
  • ARTICLES
    • Current Issue
    • Ahead of Print
    • Archives
    • Abstracts In Press
    • Special Issue Archive
    • Subject Collections
  • INFO FOR
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
    • Call For Papers
    • Subscribers
    • Advertisers
  • SUBMIT
    • Manuscript
    • Peer Review
  • ABOUT
    • The JABFM
    • Editorial Board
    • Indexing
    • Editors' Blog
  • CLASSIFIEDS
  • JABFM On Twitter
  • JABFM On YouTube
  • JABFM On Facebook
Brief ReportPolicy Brief

One in Fifteen Family Physicians Principally Provide Emergency or Urgent Care

Stephen Petterson, Lars Peterson, Robert L. Phillips, Miranda Moore, Sean Finnegan, Megan Coffman and Andrew Bazemore
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine July 2014, 27 (4) 447-448; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3122/jabfm.2014.04.130307
Stephen Petterson
the American Board of Family Medicine, Lexington, KY (LP, RLP), and The Robert Graham Center, Washington, DC (SP, MM, SF, MC, AB).
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Lars Peterson
the American Board of Family Medicine, Lexington, KY (LP, RLP), and The Robert Graham Center, Washington, DC (SP, MM, SF, MC, AB).
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Robert L. Phillips
the American Board of Family Medicine, Lexington, KY (LP, RLP), and The Robert Graham Center, Washington, DC (SP, MM, SF, MC, AB).
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Miranda Moore
the American Board of Family Medicine, Lexington, KY (LP, RLP), and The Robert Graham Center, Washington, DC (SP, MM, SF, MC, AB).
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Sean Finnegan
the American Board of Family Medicine, Lexington, KY (LP, RLP), and The Robert Graham Center, Washington, DC (SP, MM, SF, MC, AB).
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Megan Coffman
the American Board of Family Medicine, Lexington, KY (LP, RLP), and The Robert Graham Center, Washington, DC (SP, MM, SF, MC, AB).
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Andrew Bazemore
the American Board of Family Medicine, Lexington, KY (LP, RLP), and The Robert Graham Center, Washington, DC (SP, MM, SF, MC, AB).
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

A small but nontrivial proportion of US family physicians devote most of their time providing emergency or urgent care. With considerable attention focused on expanding access to primary care, it is important to account for providers principally working outside of traditional primary care.

  • Critical Care
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Health Policy
  • Primary Health Care
  • Rural Health

Family physicians adapt their care depending on the rurality, market conditions, and needs in their community. Most family physicians provide comprehensive primary care associated with the profession's traditional “basket of services,”1 but some adapt their work to meet needs in other important settings, including emergency departments and urgent care centers.2

We used data routinely collected from all family physicians during their Maintenance of Certification for Family Physicians examination application between 2008 and 2012 (n = 22,192); we restricted our analysis to those who passed the examination to avoid double-counting physicians. We used rural urban commuting area codes to classify rurality.3

We found that about 1 in 15 respondents (6.7%) devoted ≥80% of their time to either emergency (3.6%) or urgent care (3.1%). As expected, increasing rurality was associated with greater proportions of family physicians working principally in emergency care.4 More male family physicians work in emergency care, whereas more female physicians work in urgent care.

Figure 1.
  • Download figure
  • Open in new tab
Figure 1.

Percentage of family physicians passing the Maintenance of Certification–Family Physician examination from 2008 to 2012 who report devoting at least 80% of their time to either emergency care or urgent care.

With the growing national consensus regarding the need to maintain and expand the primary care pipeline, it is important that workforce planners and policymakers be able to accurately assess the availability of primary care. This ability relies on being able to identify primary care physicians serving in clinical roles other than primary care. A small but important percentage of family physicians are serving as emergency and urgent care physicians, particularly in rural areas.

Notes

  • This article was externally peer reviewed.

  • Funding: none.

  • Conflict of interest: none declared.

  • See Related Commentary on Page 444.

References

  1. 1.↵
    1. Martin JC,
    2. Avant RF,
    3. Bowman MA,
    4. et al
    ; Future of Family Medicine Project Leadership Committee. The Future of Family Medicine: a collaborative project of the family medicine community. Ann Fam Med 2004;2(Suppl 1):S3–32.
    OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text
  2. 2.↵
    1. Gerard WA,
    2. Staffer A,
    3. Bullock K,
    4. Pugno P
    . Family physicians in emergency medicine: new opportunities and critical challenges. Ann Fam Med 2010;8:564–5.
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
  3. 3.↵
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center. RUCA data. General methods. Available from: http://depts.washington.edu/uwruca/ruca-methodology.php. Accessed November 21, 2013.
  4. 4.↵
    1. Peterson LE,
    2. Dodoo M,
    3. Bennett KJ,
    4. Bazemore A,
    5. Phillips RL Jr.
    . Nonemergency medicine-trained physician coverage in rural emergency departments. J Rural Health 2008;24:183–8.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

The Journal of the American Board of Family     Medicine: 27 (4)
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
Vol. 27, Issue 4
July-August 2014
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Cover (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Back Matter (PDF)
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on American Board of Family Medicine.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
One in Fifteen Family Physicians Principally Provide Emergency or Urgent Care
(Your Name) has sent you a message from American Board of Family Medicine
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the American Board of Family Medicine web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
4 + 4 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
One in Fifteen Family Physicians Principally Provide Emergency or Urgent Care
Stephen Petterson, Lars Peterson, Robert L. Phillips, Miranda Moore, Sean Finnegan, Megan Coffman, Andrew Bazemore
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine Jul 2014, 27 (4) 447-448; DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2014.04.130307

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
One in Fifteen Family Physicians Principally Provide Emergency or Urgent Care
Stephen Petterson, Lars Peterson, Robert L. Phillips, Miranda Moore, Sean Finnegan, Megan Coffman, Andrew Bazemore
The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine Jul 2014, 27 (4) 447-448; DOI: 10.3122/jabfm.2014.04.130307
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • Notes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • Urgent and Emergency Family Physicians in Rural Communities
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • Characteristics of Family Medicine Residency Graduates, 1994-2017: An Update
  • Family medicine residents perspectives on curricular messaging surrounding enhanced skills fellowship programs
  • Family Physicians' Contributions to Rural Emergency Care and Urban Urgent Care
  • Identification of physicians providing comprehensive primary care in Ontario: a retrospective analysis using linked administrative data
  • Extended family medicine training: Measuring training flows at a time of substantial pedagogic change
  • Reported Practice Patterns Among Family Physicians with a Geriatrics Certificate of Added Qualifications
  • Family Physician Geriatricians Do Mostly Geriatric Care: Is This a Problem for Our Specialty?
  • More Comprehensive Care Among Family Physicians is Associated with Lower Costs and Fewer Hospitalizations
  • Urgent and Emergency Family Physicians in Rural Communities
  • Context and Trade-offs in Family Medicine
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Female Family Physicians Are More Racially Diverse Than Their Male Counterparts in Federal Sites
  • Pandemic Disruption in Residency Did Not Alter Trends in Intended Scope of Practice
  • Family Physician Racial Identity: An Analysis of “Other” Race Selection and Implications for Future Data Collection
Show more Policy Brief

Similar Articles

Keywords

  • Critical Care
  • Emergency Medicine
  • Health Policy
  • Primary Health Care
  • Rural Health

Navigate

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Past Issues

Authors & Reviewers

  • Info For Authors
  • Info For Reviewers
  • Submit A Manuscript/Review

Other Services

  • Get Email Alerts
  • Classifieds
  • Reprints and Permissions

Other Resources

  • Forms
  • Contact Us
  • ABFM News

© 2023 American Board of Family Medicine

Powered by HighWire