Arkansas, like other states, faces a shortage of physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers. Primary care physician (PCP) shortages in particular have been associated with higher rates of preventable emergency department visits. Conversely, greater PCP supply has been linked to earlier diagnosis of disease, lower mortality, and lower costs.
We have updated our interactive dashboard to examine the primary care physician workforce in Arkansas for the years 2019 through 2022. The dashboard provides visualizations at the state, county, and regional levels and includes information on physician demographics and activity status (full-time, part-time), payer mix, and primary care subspecialties such as family medicine, internal medicine, general practice, pediatrics, and geriatrics.
Key findings based on 2022 data include:
- There were 2,791 active primary care physicians in Arkansas in 2022, or 9.3 per 10,000 residents.
- About 38% of PCPs practiced fewer than 150 active days during the year.
- 26% of full-time PCPs were age 60 or older, raising concerns about future supply as many approach retirement.
- Early-career PCPs (under age 45) were more likely to practice fewer than 150 days during the year compared to PCPs age 45 and up (41% vs 35%).
- The PCP workforce continued to show differences by sex: 67% were male and 33% were female, although differences narrowed among younger physicians.
- Racial and ethnic diversity remained limited: While Black and Hispanic Arkansans made up 14.9% and 8.8%, respectively, of the state’s population, they represented only 6% and 3%, respectively, of active PCPs.
The dashboard is intended to inform policymakers, healthcare leaders, and other stakeholders about the supply, characteristics, and distribution of PCPs so they can make evidence-based decisions regarding provider access across Arkansas communities.
About the Data
The data presented in this dashboard were obtained from the Arkansas Healthcare Transparency Initiative’s All-Payer Claims Database, licensure files from the Arkansas State Medical Board, and CarePrecise.
To be included in the dashboard, a physician must:
- Hold a valid Arkansas medical license and National Provider Identifier (NPI).
- Be assigned a primary care specialty (family medicine, internal medicine, general practice, pediatrics, or geriatrics).
- Have delivered evaluation and management services to at least two patients on the same day (an “active day”) at least once during the year.
Physician activity levels are based on the number of active days per year:
- Full time: 150 or more active days
- Part time: 50-149 active days
- Limited time: 11-49 active days
- Very limited time: 1-10 active days
Specialty assignments were determined using licensure data. In cases where NPIs or license numbers were missing, CarePrecise was used to obtain the missing information. Manual review was performed as needed to resolve missing or inconsistent information.
Demographic details were primarily obtained from licensure files.
Payer mix visualizations reflect the distribution of each physician’s patients by primary payer type (e.g., Medicaid, Medicare, commercial insurance). Each bar represents an individual physician and shows the number of patients seen or visits provided during the calendar year. These views are only available at the county level and can be displayed for children (ages 0-18), adults (age 19 and older), or all ages. Suppression rules are applied to prevent disclosure of small numbers. Counts fewer than 11 are suppressed and displayed as 3.
Geographic views on the dashboard are available at several levels:
- Statewide (all physicians meeting inclusion criteria).
- County of service location.
- Marketplace regions used by the Arkansas Insurance Department.
- University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences regional campuses and training sites.
- Rurality, based on the 2023 Rural-Urban Continuum Codes (RUCC), which distinguish counties by population size and proximity to metropolitan areas. Urban counties were defined by RUCC codes 1-3. Rural counties were defined by RUCC codes 4-9.
Counts of active physicians and activity classifications may differ between state and county views because activity is calculated separately at each level. For example, a physician may be full time at the state level but part time in a specific county, depending on where the physician’s active days occurred. A small number of physicians could not be assigned to a specific county.