FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Contact:
Julie Hirschhorn
AAFP Public Relations
jhirschhorn@aafp.org
LEAWOOD, KS—The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) announced today the launch of a multi-year initiative to assess whether the processes and systems associated with family medicine residency recruitment is meeting the needs of a growing primary care workforce. The initiative is being launched in response to ongoing challenges with the annual residency application and Match processes.
“In March, over 5,000 medical students matched into a family medicine residency program, marking the 16th consecutive year of growth in the total number of people choosing a career in family medicine,” said R. Shawn Martin, CEO of the AAFP. “We celebrate those who choose family medicine, but we also know that there are many matching through a supplemental Match process. This extra step is stressful, inefficient and costly for both the residency programs and the students.”
The number of family medicine residency programs continue to grow year after year, with many small residency programs geographically distributed in communities they serve. These qualities can make it challenging for students looking for the right program to find one that fits their interests within the constraints of the current residency selection and recruitment systems.
“Most estimates predict that we will need somewhere around 40,400 additional primary care physicians by 2040,” said Martin. “Our goal is to have a system that helps connect the right resident with the right family medicine program in the most effective, efficient, economical way possible.”
To that end, the AAFP is launching the new initiative, which will be led by Karen Mitchell, MD, FAAFP.
“Dr. Mitchell is a nationally recognized expert in family medicine education and training,” Martin said. “She has had a distinguished career as a family physician, a residency program director and as a member of the AAFP senior leadership team. The ability of the medical education and graduate medical education system to produce family physicians is of national importance, and I cannot think of an individual better prepared or more committed to lead this important work.”
As a key part of the initiative, Mitchell will convene a stakeholder group of organizations and individuals to evaluate residency recruitment systems, the application and interview process for medical students and the performance of the NRMP match program for both applicants and programs. Findings from this analysis and information learned during the national convening, slated for early fall 2025, will determine the next steps for the initiative.
“We need a broad, system-focused discussion and analysis of the entire family medicine recruitment process,” Mitchell said. “I am eager to work with my colleagues across the health care community to identify the pain points and the best practices we can leverage to close the workforce gap. We can make a big difference for residency programs, medical students and the communities who will be served by those future family physicians.”
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About American Academy of Family Physicians
Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents 128,300 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the largest medical society devoted solely to primary care. Family physicians conduct approximately one in five office visits — that’s 192 million visits annually or 48 percent more than the next most visited medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide more care for America’s underserved and rural populations than any other medical specialty. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care. To learn more about the specialty of family medicine and the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care, visit www.aafp.org. For information about health care, health conditions and wellness, please visit the AAFP’s consumer website, www.familydoctor.org.