More than half (53 percent) of osteopathic medical students and recent graduates matched into a primary care residency program during the American Osteopathic Association match this year.
Family medicine was the most popular primary care specialty, with 519 positions filled. This represents a 10 percent increase from 2013. Internal medicine was next, with 439 applicants matched into a program this year. A total of 2,064 placements were made in 2014.
"Every year we take pride in seeing the majority of osteopathic medical students match into primary care specialties," Clinton E. Adams, DO, chair of the AOA Council on Postdoctoral Training, said in the news release. "Now, in the shadow of the Affordable Care Act, more than ever our country needs primary care physicians to lead healthcare teams designed to educate patients about healthy lifestyles in order to help prevent disease and to work as partners with that team to develop the best treatment plan when illness does strike."
Osteopathic physicians have a significant presence in primary care medicine: More than 60 percent of DOs with self-identified specialties are primary care physicians, according to the AOA's 2013 Osteopathic Medical Profession Report.
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