Osteopathic Medicine in The United States - Demographics

Demographics

From its inception, the D.O. profession has been smaller than the older M.D. profession. Currently, there are 29 accredited osteopathic medical schools offering education in 37 locations across the United States and 138 accredited U.S. M.D. medical schools.

• In 1960, there were 13,708 physicians who were graduates of the 5 osteopathic medical schools.
• In 2002, there were 49,210 physicians from 19 osteopathic medical schools.
• Between 1980 and 2005, the number of osteopathic graduates per year increased over 250 percent from about 1,000 to 2,800. This number is expected to approach 5,000 by 2015.
• In 2011, there were 26 colleges of osteopathic medicine in 34 locations. One in five medical students in the United States is enrolled in an osteopathic medical school.
• As of 2011, there are more than 78,000 osteopathic physicians in the United States.
• By 2020, the number of osteopathic physicians will be over 100,000, say expert predictions, according to the American Medical Association.

Osteopathic physicians are unevenly distributed in the United States. The states with the highest concentration are Oklahoma, Iowa, and Michigan where osteopathic physicians comprise 17-20% of the total physician workforce. The state with the greatest number of osteopathic physicians is Pennsylvania, with 7,260 DOs in active practice in 2011. The states with the lowest concentrations of DOs are Louisiana, Massachusetts and Vermont where only 1–3% of physicians have an osteopathic medical degree. Public awareness of osteopathic medicine likewise varies widely in different regions. People living in the midwest states are the most likely to be familiar with osteopathic medicine. In the Northeastern United States, osteopathic physicians provide more than one third of general and family medicine patient visits.