Office of Rural Health & Primary Care
Health Workforce Analysis Program
Minnesota Respiratory Care Practitioners Facts and Data ‘05
The Office of Rural Health and Primary Care asks respiratory care practitioners to answer questions about
their employment status and the nature of their practices each year when they renew their registrations.
Response to the survey is voluntary and does not affect registration renewal.
Old definition. Respiratory care practitioner workforce data has previously been reported for “urban” and
“rural” portions of the state. Urban has been defined to include seven Twin Cities metropolitan counties
(Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington) and the cities of Duluth, Rochester and
St. Cloud.
New definition. For 2005, data is also reported for three groupings that focuses greater attention on the 46
most rural counties:
Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) counties – 21 Minnesota counties included in seven
metropolitan statistical areas (Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Cloud, Rochester, Duluth-Superior, Fargo,
Grand Forks and La Crosse).
Micropolitan counties – 20 counties surrounding smaller urban centers of at least 10,000 people.
Rural – 46 counties outside MSAs and Micropolitan areas.
In the following data tables, gray shading distinguishes data reported under the old urban-rural definition
from data reported under the new MSA-micropolitan-rural definition.
Numbers of respiratory care practitioners
There were 1,483 registered respiratory care practitioners in Minnesota as of July 1, 2005, up from 1,377 in
2004. Some of these were retired or not working as respiratory care practitioners, and many lived or
practiced in other states.
Based on survey responses and licensing data from the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, the Office of
Rural Health and Primary Care estimates approximately 1,377 respiratory care practitioner were practicing
at least part time at Minnesota practice sites in mid-2005. This amounts to about 27 practitioners per
100,000 population. For explanation of this estimate, see the methodological note at the end of this report.
P.O. Box 64882
St. Paul, MN 55164-0882
(651) 201-3838
http://www.health.state.mn.us
March 2006
Respiratory Care Therapists - 2005
page 2
This data is for respiratory care practitioners who work at least part time at a primary practice site in
Minnesota, according to the Office of Rural Health and Primary Care survey of respiratory care practitioners
renewing registrations for 2005.
Registered Respiratory Care Practitioners
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Numbers of registrations July 1 of each year; not necessarily practicing in Minnesota.
Source: Minnesota Board of Medical Practice
Geographic distribution
•
•
•
Respiratory care practitioners’ practice sites are disproportionately located in metropolitan areas,
where 86 percent practice.
The 46 most rural counties have 13 percent of the state’s population, but only four percent of the
state’s practicing respiratory care practitioners.
Respiratory care practitioners are used most heavily in the state’s major medical centers. Hennepin,
Ramsey, Olmsted and St. Louis counties accounted for 70 percent of practitioners.
Geographic Distribution of Respiratory Care
Practitioners
Micropolitan
10%
Rural
4%
Metropolitan
86%
Respiratory Care Therapists - 2005
page 3
2004 Minnesota Population
Rural
13%
Micropolitan
15%
Metropollitan
72%
Urban
Rural (old definition)
Statewide
Metropolitan counties
Micropolitan counties
Rural (new definition)
2004 Population
% Population
3,015,421
2,129,685
5,145,106
3,732,499
752,857
659,750
58.6%
41.%
100.0%
72.5%
14.6%
12.8%
% Respiratory care
practitioners
80.2%
19.8%
100.0%
86.3%
9.7%
4.0%
Gender of respiratory care practitioners
•
•
•
Sixty-two percent of all respiratory care practitioners are female.
Younger respiratory care practitioners are more likely than older practitioners to be female. Most 55
and older are males.
The gender mix of respiratory care practitioners does not vary much between metropolitan,
micropolitan and rural areas.
AGE
All respiratory
care practitioners
Under 35
35-44
45-54
55-64
65 and older
Urban
Rural (old definition)
Metropolitan
Micropolitan
Rural (new definition)
Respondents
796
% MALE
38.2%
% FEMALE
61.7%
160
240
299
89
8
638
158
687
77
32
28.8%
36.3%
37.5%
61.8%
71.3%
63.8%
62.2%
38.2%
38.6%
36.7%
38.1%
42.9%
37.5%
61.4%
63.3%
61.9%
57.1%
62.5%
Respiratory Care Therapists - 2005
page 4
Age of respiratory care practitioners
•
•
More than half of respiratory care practitioners were less than 45 years old in 2005, but more than a
third were between 45 and 54.
Micropolitan and rural respiratory care practitioners are older than respiratory care practitioners in
metropolitan counties.
Age of Respiratory Care Practitioners
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
37.6%
30.2%
20.1%
11.2%
1.0%
< 35
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
Age
Age Group
Median age
Less than 35
35-44
45-54
55-64
65 and older
Total
Statewide
n = 796
Urban
n = 638
(old definition)
Rural
n = 158
Metropolitan
n = 687
Micropolitan
n = 77
(new definition)
Rural n =32
respondents
respondents
respondents
respondents
respondents
respondents
44 yr.
20.1%
30.2%
37.6%
11.2%
1.0%
100.0%
44 yr.
19.7%
31.7%
36.5%
11.1%
.9%
100.0%
45 yr.
21.5%
24.1%
41.8%
11.4%
1.3%
100.0%
44 yr.
16.9%
20.8%
46.8%
15.6%
-0100.0%
47 yr.
20.5%
31.4%
36.2%
10.8%
1.0%
100.0%
Note: Because of small number of rural respondents, data is presented for collapsed age categories.
47.5 yr.
43.8%
43.8%
12.5%
100.0%
Types of practice site
•
•
•
Most (about 77 percent) respiratory care practitioners work in hospital inpatient settings.
Most other practitioners work in home health, hospital-outpatient, and office-clinic settings.
Hospital-based respiratory care practitioners are somewhat more likely to work in outpatient settings
than are hospital-based practitioners in other parts of the state.
Respiratory Care Therapists - 2005
page 5
Metropoli
(old)
Urban
Rural
tan
778
625
153
673
77.4%
78.1% 74.5%
77.9%
Statewide
Type of Site
N = respondents
Hospital –
inpatient
Hospital –
outpatient
Home health
agency
Office-clinic
Other
Micropolitan
74
(new) Rural
71.6%
31
*
5.5%
4.2%
11.1%
4.8%
13.5%
*
6.9%
7.0%
6.5%
6.8%
9.5%
*
4.3%
5.9%
5.3%
5.4%
.7%
7.2%
4.9%
5.6%
-05.4%
*
*
* Percentages not reported because of small number of responses. Percentages for micropolitan counties are less reliable because
of relatively small number of respondents.
Note: Some respondents in the “other” category identified workplaces that are probably in clinics or hospitals.
Methodological note for numbers of respiratory care practitioners
Data reported here is from responses received from respiratory care practitioners renewing their
registrations for 2005. Renewals were due July 1, so most respiratory care practitioners answered the
survey in May or June, 2005.
The Board of Medicine received about 1,282 registration renewals for 2005. This estimate is based on the
number of active registrations on July 1, minus the number of new registrations during 2005.
The Office of Rural Health and Primary Care received survey responses from 857 respiratory care
practitioners renewing their registrations for 2005. At the time of registration renewal, 796, or 93 percent,
of these said they working at least part-time at a primary practice site in Minnesota.
The exact number of respiratory care practitioners actually practicing in Minnesota is not known. If the 93
percent figure is applied to the total number of registered respiratory care practitioners, there would have
been about 1,377 respiratory care practitioners working in Minnesota in mid-2005. This would be a
reasonable estimate if practitioners working in Minnesota were no more likely than respiratory care
practitioners not working in Minnesota to respond to the survey. However, active Minnesota practitioners
were probably more likely to respond, making this estimate somewhat high.
Using the July 1, 2005, population estimate for Minnesota, 1,377 respiratory care practitioners equate to 27
active respiratory care practitioners per 100,000 people.
Because of different data sources and definitions, the estimate of 27 active respiratory care practitioners per
100,000 people is not directly comparable to other reported data. The Bureau of Health Professions in the
U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration reported that Minnesota had 1,260 respiratory therapists
in 2000, or 25.5 per 100,000 people, lower than the national rate of 29.2.