California's supply of physicians has been growing faster than the overall population in recent years, rising 7% since 1998. Demand for physicians is expected to rise as the senior population grows and more individuals obtain health insurance as a result of health care reform. With large numbers of physicians nearing retirement, and not all doctors taking new patients with private or public insurance, those seeking care, especially in some regions, could have difficulty finding a provider. 

This report, published as part of CHCF's California Health Care Almanac, draws from numerous sources to describe the market landscape for physician services in California. Key findings include:

• California barely meets the nationally recognized standard for supply of primary care physicians. Only the Orange, Sacramento, and Greater Bay Area regions meet the recommended supply.
• Not all PCPs are accepting new patients, and only just over half are accepting new Medi-Cal patients.
• Nearly 30% of physicians are over 60 years old — a higher percentage than any other state.
• While Latinos represent almost 40% of the population, only 5% of the state's physicians are Latinos, a fact that could have implications for language and cultural aspects of care.
• California draws a substantial portion of physicians, especially PCPs, from foreign and out-of-state medical schools.
• While compensation for California's family and general practitioners has been rising, they earned only 88% of the national average in 2008.

The complete report is available under Document Downloads.