What the letters mean
A DO completes four years at an osteopathic medical school, passes a national examination sequence, and trains in residency as an MD does. The two accreditation systems for residency merged into one, so a DO and an MD in the same program receive the same training.
Both degrees carry a full and unrestricted licence to practise medicine and surgery in all fifty states, and both prescribe. The additional element in osteopathic training is osteopathic manipulative medicine, a hands-on approach to the musculoskeletal system, which some DOs use in practice and many do not.
Osteopathic graduates are a growing share of American physicians and are well represented in primary care and rural practice. For any list of physicians the two degrees belong in one population: filtering to MD alone quietly removes a large and growing part of the profession.
What we hold on them
These letters span more than one specialty, so there is no single list behind them. Browse the lists for counts by specialty and state, each refreshed nightly, or see what a record carries.
Closely related, and where to find them.
Closely related
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