National estimates of physician assistant productivity.

Analysis of productivity data from a nationally representative sample of physician assistants (PAs) showed that PAs performed 61.4 outpatient visits per week compared with 74.2 visits performed by physicians, for an overall physician full-time equivalent (FTE) estimate of 0.83. However, productivity of PAs varies strongly across practice specialty and location, with generalist PAs performing more visits than their specialist counterparts. Rural PA productivity is higher than urban productivity because of the concentration of generalist PAs in rural settings. A generalist PA physician FTE estimate of 0.75 appears to be more accurate than the 0.5 currently under consideration in proposed modifications to Health Personnel Shortage Area designation regulations.