Family medicine programs filled a record 4,530 positions in the 2023 National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) Main Residency Match, according to results released on Match Day, March 17, 2023. This is 60 more filled family medicine positions compared to last year’s Match and 47 more than the previous record-breaking class in 2021.

Family medicine programs filled 88.3% of positions available in the main Match this year, when the number of participating family medicine–categorical and combined residency programs swelled to 784, up from 756 last year—the most programs of any specialty in the Match. Family medicine residencies offered 172 more positions this year, marking the 14th year in a row that the number of family medicine positions in the NRMP Match increased. Results from the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP) were expected to bring the total number of individuals in the incoming class of family medicine to more than 5,000.

“We’ve grown to have more family medicine residency programs than ever,” said AAFP Vice President of Medical Education Karen Mitchell, MD, who noted that family medicine is the largest single specialty focused on primary care in the Match, accounting for 13.6% of total positions offered.

“One of the things I’m pleased with is that the absolute number in the main Match is higher. The number of positions offered is higher, and we expect most positions offered in the SOAP to be filled,” she said on Match Day.

There were 589 family medicine positions unfilled in the main residency Match. For perspective, 465 family medicine positions were available in the 2022 SOAP, and 442 filled.

Of the students and graduates who filled family medicine slots in the main Match reported by the NRMP on Match Day:

Seniors from osteopathic medical schools accounted for 1,514 positions, up from 1,496 last year

US seniors from allopathic medical schools accounted for 1,499 positions, down from 1,555

International medical students and graduates (including 793 US citizens) accounted for 1,355 positions, up from 1,237

“Family medicine leads the house of medicine in recruiting a workforce committed to primary care, training in the communities that need us the most all over the country,” said Mitchell. “One of the AAFP’s key strategies is to strengthen the pathway of family physicians to best care for our communities by growing residencies and supporting strong pathways to family medicine careers. Although the AAFP celebrates continued growth in the Match, we also acknowledge a complex, often inequitable system that continues to undervalue primary care.”

A deeper analysis of family medicine Match results is available.

Family medicine claimed its historically large class despite the fact that the class of 2023 medical students had its entire 4-year experience affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Family Medicine for America’s Health study discovered in 2019—before the pandemic—that one of the key factors that influence students to choose family medicine as their specialty is exposure to high-quality family medicine preceptors who are enthusiastic about the specialty, practice broad-scope family medicine, and offer examples of family medicine’s breadth and depth.

However, COVID-19 hit midway through the 1st year of medical school for most students graduating this spring. That limited medical students’ in-person exposure to family medicine rotations, curtailed family medicine interest group activity and moved many residency recruitment efforts online.

“We are working with a cohort of students whose clinical experiences were affected by the pandemic,” Mitchell said. “Students didn’t get the same experience in family medicine that they would have otherwise.”

Some students who did experience family medicine during the pandemic may not have seen it in the ideal circumstance that the authors of that 2019 study envisioned. A more recent study by Mayo Clinic researchers showed that family medicine and emergency medicine physicians were the most likely to suffer from burnout during the pandemic. (Emergency medicine also had more unfilled positions than in previous main Match results.)

“Coming out of the pandemic, we need to reinvigorate clinical opportunities for students and reinvigorate our Family Medicine Interest Groups (FMIGs),” Mitchell said.

The AAFP has a free Best Practice Guide, developed in cooperation with the Association of Departments of Family Medicine, to help medical schools increase student choice in family medicine. It offers 10 evidence-based steps schools can take to build the primary care workforce. The guide is available under “Peer-reviewed Journal Publications” at https://www.aafp.org/news/media-center/kits/match-2023.html.

Mitchell said that although the number of students choosing family medicine is increasing, the rate of that increase is inadequate to meet the projected demand for primary care as the US population grows and ages. The Association of American Medical Colleges estimates there will be a shortage of up to 48,000 primary care physicians by 2034.

Students matching in 2024 and beyond can access free, step-by-step guidance—from choosing a specialty to choosing a residency program—in the recently updated Strolling Through the Match, which is available at https://www.aafp.org/students-residents/medical-students/become-a-resident/match.html.

In addition, the AAFP’s National Conference of Family Medicine Residency and Medical Students will once again play host to one of the country’s largest residency fairs (and much more) July 27-29, 2023 in Kansas City, Missouri.

“Family medicine has a bright future,” Mitchell said, “even as we acknowledge the challenges in the current health care system. Family medicine is poised to meet US health care needs through a family physician workforce that mirrors the geographic distribution of the US population, serving in rural and underserved urban communities, and treating a more diverse population of patients than any other medical specialty.”