Office of Rural Health & Primary Care
Health Workforce Analysis Program
Minnesota’s Physicians Facts and Data 2006
The Office of Rural Health and Primary Care (ORHPC) asks physicians to answer questions about their
employment status and the nature of their practices each year when they renew their licenses. Response to
the survey is voluntary and does not affect license renewal.
Numbers of Physicians
Minnesota had 17,939 licensed physicians in 2006. Some of these were retired or not working as doctors,
and some practiced in other states.
Based on survey responses and licensing data from the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice, ORHPC
estimates approximately 13,330 physicians were practicing at least part time at Minnesota practice sites in
early 2005. Data does not allow reliable estimates for numbers of physicians practicing in 2006. Using the
July 1, 2006, population estimate for Minnesota, 13,300 physicians equate to 254 active physicians per
100,000 people.
All data reported below is for physicians who reported working as a physician in a paid or unpaid position at
a primary practice site in Minnesota in 2006.
Geographic Distribution
•
•
•
Physicians’ primary practice sites are disproportionately in metropolitan area counties.
The 46 most rural counties have 13 percent of the state’s population, but only five percent of the
state’s practicing physicians.
More than one-third (35 percent) of all respondents said their primary practice site was in Hennepin
County. Olmsted County accounted for 15 percent and Ramsey County 12 percent.
Statewide
Metropolitan
counties
Micropolitan
counties
Rural
2006 Population
5,231,106
3,810,396
% Population
100.0%
72.8%
% Physicians
100.0%
84.8%
761,302
14.6%
10.4%
659,408
12.6%
4.7%
P.O. Box 64882
St. Paul, MN 55164-0882
(651) 201-3838
http://www.health.state.mn.us
September 2007
page 2
Minnesota’s Physicians Facts and Data
Gender of Physicians by age and Location, 2006
•
•
•
•
Only 29 percent of all physicians are women, but women account for half of physicians under age 35
and 39 percent of physicians 35 to 44.
Males dominant older age brackets; most of the physicians approaching retirement age are male.
Female physicians are somewhat more common in metropolitan counties, but the gender mix of
metropolitan counties is not a great deal different in micropolitan and rural areas.
Eighty-eight percent of female physicians practice in metropolitan counties.
AGE
All Physicians
By age
Under 35
35-44
45-54
55-64
65 and older
By location
Metropolitan
Micropolitan
Rural
Respondents
6,338*
% MALE
70.7%
% FEMALE
29.3%
641
1,834
2,136
1,323
404
49.8%
61.4%
71.0%
85.7%
93.1%
50.2%
38.6%
28.9%
13.6%
6.1%
5.375
662
301
69.6%
76.7%
77.7%
30.4%
23.3%
22.3%
* includes only active Minnesota physician respondents for whom gender is known.
Minnesota’s Physicians Facts and Data
page 3
Age of Physicians by Gender and Location
The median age of active Minnesota physicians is 48. Because of the long training period for physicians,
few are under age 35.
Minnesota Physicians by Age
33.3%
29.2%
35%
30%
20.2%
25%
20%
15%
9.8%
7.6%
10%
5%
0%
< 35
•
•
•
•
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
Twenty-seven percent of physicians are 55 or older.
Female physicians are younger than their male counterparts. The median age of active female
physicians is 44, compared to 51 for males.
Fifty-six percent of active female physicians are under age 45; Sixty-eight percent of male
physicians are 45 or older.
The median age of physicians varies only slightly between more urban and more rural areas.
Age Group
Median age
Less than 35
35-44
45-54
55-64
65 and older
Total
Statewide
n = 6,353
respondents
48.4
10.1%
28.9%
33.7%
21.0%
6.4%
100.0%
Metropolitan
n = 5,389
respondents
48.3
10.4%
29.0%
33.5%
20.8%
6.3%
100.0%
Micropolitan
n = 663
respondents
48.8
8.4%
28.1%
34.7%
23.2%
5.6%
100.0%
Rural
n =301
respondents
49.4
9.0%
27.6%
33.2%
19.3%
11.0%
100.0%
Males
Females
50.5
7.1%
25.1%
33.9%
25.5%
8.5%
100.0%
43.8
17.4%
38.2%
33.3%
9.8%
1.3%
100.0%
Minnesota’s Physicians Facts and Data
page 4
Practice plans
•
•
•
•
Overall, 19 percent of physicians active in 2006 said they expected to leave practice within
five years.
Twenty-one percent of males expected to quite within five years, compared to only 13 percent of
females. This reflects that fact that most older physicians are males.
Not all physicians nearing retirement age expect to leave their practices by age 65. Thirty percent of
physicians age 55 to 64 said they plan to work five years or less, but 25 percent said they expect to
practice at least 10 more years.
Seventy percent of physicians 65 and older said they plan to quit within five years, but 11 percent
said they expected to practice another 10 years.
Age < 35
Age 35-44
Age 45-54
Age 55-64
Age 65+
All Physicians
Number of years planning to continue work as a physician
Less than 5 years
6-10 years
More than 10 years
30%
8%
63%
9%
11%
80%
6%
21%
73%
31%
44%
25%
70%
20%
11%
19%
22%
60%
Hours worked
About one third of physicians are under age 43, another third are 43 to 52, and another third are 53 or older.
These groups vary in gender and work hours.
•
•
More than half of active physicians report working 45 to 60 hours per week, but nearly one in six
report working 36 hours or less.
Younger physicians are more likely than older physicians to work more than 60 hours a week.
Reported
work week
1-8 hours
9-20 hours
21-36 hrs
37-44 hrs
45-60 hrs
61+ hrs
Age
< 35 yrs
2.2%
10.0%
17.1%
51.6%
18.7%
35-44
.4%
3.0%
11.4%
17.3%
52.6%
14.0%
45-54
.6%
2.2%
10.6%
16.0%
55.5%
13.7%
55-64
.9%
4.4%
10.6%
15.5%
56.2%
11.6%
65+
All Ages
11.0%
1.2%
20.0% 4.0%
19.5% 11.3%
17.9% 16.5%
25.1% 52.3%
4.6% 13.2%
Young female physicians report working fewer hours than male physicians of the same age.
•
•
One-fourth of female physicians under age 45 said they worked 36 hours or less a week. Only 7
percent of male physicians reported working 36 hours or less.
Seventy-nine percent of male physicians less than 45 years old said they worked more than 44
hours per week. Only 54 percent of female physicians of the same age worked more than 44
hours per week.
page 5
•
Minnesota’s Physicians Facts and Data
For all ages, 72 percent of males said they worked 45 hours or more a week, compared to only 52
percent of females.
Hours worked by active physicians under age 45
Females
Males
.4%
.3%
0-8 hours
5.5%
1.0%
9-20 hours
19.4%
5.2%
21-36 hours
24.0%
14.9%
36-44 hours
45.4%
58.2%
45-60 hours
8.3%
20.4%
> 60 hours
Race and Ethnicity
With the exception of Asians and Pacific Islanders, minorities remain underrepresented in Minnesota’s
physician workforce.
•
•
Eighty-eight percent of actively practicing physicians are White. Asian and Pacific Islanders account
for 6 percent.
Younger physicians are less likely to be White, but the increase in minority percentage is almost
entirely accounted for by physicians identifying themselves as Asian or Pacific Islanders.
Race of physicians
White only
Asian or Pacific Islander only
Black or African American only
Hispanic, Latino or Spanish Origin only
American Indian only
Other single race
Two or more racial identities
*less than .1 percent.
ALL
88.0%
6.2%
1.0%
1.1%
*
1.5%
1.5%
Under 40
81.9%
11.0%
1.3%
.9%
*
1.7%
3.2%
Types of Practice Site
•
•
•
More than six of 10 physicians (61.2 percent) said their primary practice site was a provider office or
clinic. Thirty-two percent said their primary practice site was a hospital or emergency room.
Physicians in micropolitan and rural counties are less likely than metropolitan area physicians to be
based in hospitals; they are more likely than metropolitan physicians to work in provider offices and
clinics.
Nearly a fourth (22.7 percent) of physicians in metropolitan area counties have their primary practice
sites in teaching hospitals. Teaching hospitals are concentrated in the Twin Cities and Rochester.
Minnesota’s Physicians Facts and Data
page 6
Type of Site
Respondents
Office/Clinic
Teaching Hospitals
Other Hospitals
Emergency Rooms
Other*
All physicians
6,114
61.2%
19.5%
8.1%
4.4%
6.8%
Metropolitan
5,177
58.5%
22.7%
7.3%
4.0%
7.5%
Micropolitan
644
74.4%
2.3%
14.1%
6.2%
3.0%
Rural
293
79.5%
1.0%
9.2%
6.1%
4.2%
* “Other” includes laboratories, medical schools, nursing homes, hospices, treatment facilities and other kinds of workplaces.
•
•
•
Female physicians are more likely than male physicians to have a primary practice site in a physician
office or clinic. Sixty-seven percent of women practice in offices or clinics, compared to 59 percent
of men.
Male physicians are more likely than female physicians to practice in hospitals or emergency rooms.
Thirty-five percent of men practice in hospital settings, compared to 25 percent of men.
Men account for 77 percent of physicians
Male
Female
practicing in hospitals, but only 68 percent
58.5%
67.4%
Office/Clinic
of physicians practicing in physician
offices or clinics.
20.4%
17.4%
Teaching Hospitals
9.5%
4.8%
Other Hospitals
4.9%
3.2%
Emergency Rooms
6.7%
7.2%
Other
100.0%
100.0%
Total
Work Responsibilities
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•
•
Most of physicians’ work time is devoted to outpatient care. Fifty percent of active physicians said
they spent at least 80 percent of their time at their primary practice site in outpatient care. One in five
physicians said outpatient care accounted for all their time at their primary work site. These statistics
reflect the fact that most physicians have a primary practice site in a physician office or clinic.
Only 30 percent of physicians devote more than 20 percent of their primary worksite time to
inpatient care. This reflects the percentage of physicians who report a hospital as primary work site.
Relatively small numbers of physicians report spending a significant portion of their time on
administration, teaching or research.
Inpatient care
Outpatient care
Rounds
Administration
Teaching
Research
Other activities
*Less than .5%.
0%
47%
14%
83%
67%
70%
84%
95%
1-19%
23%
5%
15%
23%
25%
10%
1%
Percent of time at primary work site
20-39% 40-59% 60-79% 80-99%
13%
8%
4%
3%
8%
11%
12%
29%
2%
*
*
5%
2% 1% 1%
4%
1%
*
*
3%
2%
1%
*
1% 1%
*
*
100%
2%
21%
1%
*
*
1%
page 7
Minnesota’s Physicians Facts and Data
Methodology
Data reported here is from responses received from physicians renewing their licenses during 2006. License
renewals come due by birth date. For this reason, answers to survey questions are not from a single point in
time, but over a 12-month period.
The Board of Medical Practice received 17,784 license renewals during 2006. Some of the data reported
here is collected by the Board during the licensing process. This data includes age, gender, and worksite
address.
The ORHPC survey produced data on 9,631 physicians. Of these, 8,648 said they were working as a
physician in a paid or unpaid position. About three-fourths of these—6,353 reported a primary worksite in
Minnesota. The 2006 survey produced fewer valid responses than the 2005 survey due to technical problems
related to changing to online data collection.
The exact number of physicians actually practicing in Minnesota is not known. The 6,353 respondents who
said they were actively practicing at a primary site in Minnesota were 66 percent of all survey respondents.
If 66 percent of all licensed physicians were actually employed at a Minnesota worksite, the total number of
active physicians in Minnesota in 2006 would have been about 11,840. However, this estimate is about 10
percent below the estimate for 2005, and probably too low.
Because of different data sources and definitions, this estimate 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 194 active patient care physicians per 100,000 people in 2000, just below the national
ratio of 198. Minnesota had 76 active primary care physicians per 100,000 people, exceeding the national
ratio of 69.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported that Minnesota had 262 licensed physicians per 100,000 people in 2000,
compared to a national rate of 253. These figures include all licensed physicians, whether actively practicing
in the state or not.
Geographic Definitions. For 2006, data is reported for three groupings that focuses greater attention on the
46 most rural counties:
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
Data users should be aware that other data sources may use different definitions. For example, some
researchers define “rural” to include all counties outside the original seven-county Twin Cities metropolitan
area. Others consider all counties outside metropolitan statistical areas to be rural.