Physician Workforce Data

Oregon Health & Science University has been studying physician workforce in the state since the mid-1970s. We have witnessed and documented various trends that began with critical shortages, turned into a decade of profound growth, signaled a decline in primary care, demonstrated unusual growth in internal medicine specialties, warned of severe shortages in rural communities, suggested a recovery in primary care and finally - an unprecedented decline in overall growth and a possible shortage in availability of various specialties.

Using data obtained via electronic transfer from the Oregon Board of Medical Examiners, we have consistently tabulated numbers of licensed physicians who report being in "active practice" and whose primary practice address is located in Oregon. The most recent data were transferred in May 2004, when Oregon reported a total of 8,292 licensed, active resident physicians.  Additional data for 2005 is now available for comparison.