The Declining Scope of Practice of Family Physicians Is Limited to Urban Areas.

Purpose: Scope of practice of family physicians (FPs) has been decreasing overall. Our objective was to determine if the distribution of declining scope occurs across urban and rural settings.

Methods: We used secondary data from practicing FPs collected on the American Board of Family Medicine examination registration demographic questionnaire from 2014 to 2016 on scope of practice merged with county-level data from the Area Health Resources File.

Declining Endoscopic Care by Family Physicians in Both Rural and Urban Areas.

Using data from 2014 through 2016, we demonstrated a decline in the percentage of family physicians providing endoscopic services in both rural and urban areas. Our findings suggest that forces in the health care system may be influencing the reduction in scope, rather than specific geographic factors.

Family Physicians' Contributions to Rural Emergency Care and Urban Urgent Care.

Using 2017 data, we demonstrate a sharp increase in the proportion of family physicians (FPs) working primarily in rural emergency departments and increasing numbers of FPs working in urgent care centers. Despite growth in emergency medicine-trained physicians, FPs are likely to continue to be the backbone of emergency care in rural America.