The American Academy of Family Physicians’ (AAFP’s) brief analysis of family medicine results from the annual National Resident Matching Program Main Residency Match® (NRMP Match) provides a snapshot of the incoming physician workforce at its most significant inflection point: the moment medical students and graduates obtain their residency training position in a medical specialty. The AAFP closely monitors important workforce trends. For historical comparison, this analysis also includes insights into Match data reported by the American Osteopathic Association regarding the AOA Intern/Resident Registration Program (AOA Match) prior to 2020.
For more analysis, download the AAFP's full 2022 Match Results for Family Medicine.
While the residency Match results reflect momentum for family medicine, the pace needs to accelerate in order to meet the demand for family medicine in the U.S. The U.S. medical education system is far from delivering the primary care medical workforce needed in the country it serves, and whose taxpayers fund it. The composition of residency training positions must reflect the composition needed in the workforce, and as such, needs to increase steeply in family medicine, other primary care specialties, and a few other specialties. Health care, education, and societal systems need to incentivize, recruit, and support a more diverse medical student population that better represents the U.S. population and those who are more likely to choose primary care careers and practice in underserved areas. Substantial increases in the family medicine and primary care workforce—while also accounting for the composition, distribution, and quality of that workforce—are needed to improve the health of Americans and the sustainability of the health care system.
These results are a combination of all PGY-1 positions that result in eligibility for licensure and board certification in family medicine. Those include family medicine-categorical and combined residency programs. Broken down:
The NRMP Match is the largest and most representative mechanism for medical student recruitment into specialized medical residencies in the United States, and as such, serves as a barometer of workforce production.
However, NRMP Match results are not comprehensive of all entry into graduate medical education in the U.S. The NRMP Match is not the only mechanism through which medical students or graduates are matched with their required graduate medical education, or residency programs, in a specialized field to lead to board certification in a medical specialty (or multiple specialties). Other matching services, like the annual Military Match, as well as private arrangements outside of the Match also fill residency openings. The results published on Match Day each year also exclude the SOAP.
For additional analysis of the family medicine workforce, visit:
For more on the primary care physician workforce:
To connect with the AAFP’s efforts on workforce reform:
Find AAFP resources to support students on their journey to family medicine: