In plain English
The profession was built as a generalist one. PAs train in a medical model across specialties and then specialise by employment rather than through a separate certification, which is why the same PA can move from emergency medicine to orthopaedics without retraining.
Certification is national and maintained - the C in PA-C stands for certified - and the licence is issued by a state board. The relationship with physicians is defined in state law and has been loosening in several states, but it remains the structural difference from nurse practitioners, who are regulated as nurses instead.
The profession's national association has adopted physician associate as its preferred title. State licences and the public record still say physician assistant, so that is what a list is filtered on.
PAs are prescribers, and in surgical and procedural specialties they are often the clinician a supplier's representative actually deals with. A physician-only list leaves them out entirely.
Training and credentials
A bachelor's degree with prerequisite coursework and clinical hours, a master's-level PA program of about two to three years, then the national certifying examination and a state licence.
| Letters | What they mean |
|---|---|
| PA-C | Physician assistant, currently certified by national examination. |
| PA | The licensed role, without asserting current certification. |
Where they practise
Hospital services of every kind, surgical and specialty practices, primary and urgent care, emergency departments, occupational and correctional health.
Physician assistants on the public record
Counted from what providers file about themselves, with suppression applied before anything is counted, refreshed 2026-10-05. Names, specialties and practice locations are public; work email and phone are for signed-in customers.
| State | On record | With work email | With practice phone |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 21,745 | 19,613 90% | 21,744 |
| California | 19,298 | 17,480 91% | 19,297 |
| Texas | 15,366 | 13,490 88% | 15,364 |
| Florida | 15,088 | 13,242 88% | 15,083 |
| Pennsylvania | 13,016 | 11,869 91% | 13,015 |
| North Carolina | 11,253 | 10,324 92% | 11,251 |
| Michigan | 8,720 | 7,850 90% | 8,720 |
| Georgia | 6,744 | 6,005 89% | 6,744 |
Closely related, and where to find them.
Closely related
- Nurse practitioner An advanced practice nurse who diagnoses and prescribes - within the scope the state allows.
- Emergency medicine physician The specialty of whoever comes through the door, and the staffing groups behind it.
- Family medicine physician The generalist specialty that covers every age, and how it differs from internal medicine.
Find them
- Physician assistants list counts by state, the fields a record carries, a sample record.
- NPs & PAs nurse practitioners and physician assistants together, the prescribers a physician list misses.
- Physician assistants in New York, NY
- Physician assistants in Los Angeles, CA
- Physician assistants in Houston, TX
- Physician assistants in Miami, FL
- Physician assistants in Chicago, IL
- Physician assistants in Philadelphia, PA
Need the list, not the definition?
A free account builds this population with your own filters and shows what each record carries before anything is bought.