Pathways to Primary Care, Sankey diagrams of postgraduate specialty training of US physicians graduated 2001-2015
William R. Phillips, MD, MPH, FAAFP; Jeongyoung Park, PhD; Michael Topmiller, PhD
This online data visualization was created as part of the (AAFP) Robert Graham Center for Policy Studies in Family Medicine's pathways to primary care research portfolio. For additional details on the methods and results, see
Phillips WR, Park J, Topmiller M. Pathways to primary care: charting trajectories from medical school graduation through specialty training.
Health Affairs (Millwood.) 2005. 44(5):580–588. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2024.00893
Link to Abstract
This article in HEALTH AFFAIRS charts the trajectories of physician training from graduation through primary care training. Key takeaways include:
- Exposing the Dean's Lie that claims physicians matching into internal medicine residency programs count for the primary care workforce.
- Introducing a new metric, Primary Care Yield, defined as the proportion of physicians who enter a primary care training program who conclude their training in primary care.
- Documenting Primary Care Yield for Family Medicine 97%, Internal Medicine 36%, Pediatrics 54%.
If you have any questions or need assistance using the data visualization tool contact Michael Topmiller
Suggested Citation: Phillips WR, Park J, Topmiller M. Pathways to Primary Care, Sankey diagrams of postgraduate specialty training of US physicians graduated 2001–2015 [Internet]. Washington, DC: American Academy of Family Physicians. Available from: https://apps.healthlandscape.org/PrimaryCarePathways/PrimaryCarePathways.html.