The North Carolina Health Professions Data System (HPDS) collects and disseminates descriptive data on selected licensed health professionals in North Carolina. With annual files dating back to 1979, the HPDS is the oldest continuous state health workforce data system in the country.

The HPDS is maintained by the Program on Health Workforce Research and Policy at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in collaboration with the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers Program (AHEC), and the state’s independent health professional licensing boards. Ongoing financial support is provided by the NC AHEC Program Office and the Office of the Provost at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Although the NC HPDS maintains the data system, the data remain the property of their respective licensing board.

Data include active, licensed health professionals practicing in North Carolina as of October 31 of each data year. County counts are based on primary practice location. Some providers may practice in additional locations not shown in primary practice location counts.

Underrepresented minorities include health professionals that self-identify as African-American/Black, American Indian or Alaskan Native, and/or Hispanic. Health professionals that self-identify as Asian are not included in this category. Both state ¹ and national ² data have shown that compared to the general population, Asians tend to be more represented in many (although not all) health professions, particularly those requiring a doctoral degree.

1. Spero JC. Does North Carolina’s health care workforce reflect the diversity of the state’s population? NC Med J. 2016; 77(2):141-145.
2. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, National Center for Health Workforce Analysis. Sex, Race, and Ethnic Diversity of U.S. Health Occupations (2010-2012), Rockville, Maryland; 2015.

What is a Primary Area of Practice?

The NCMB annual licensure/reregistration forms request self-selected primary area of practice, defined as “ What you primarily do as a physician.” The forms note that “Primary area of practice may correspond to an ABMS/AOA certification or a generally recognized area of work, such as ‘hospitalist’ or ‘administrative medicine.’”

Why doesn’t the data visualization tool have Primary Area of Practice data prior to 2011?

The NCMB began to collect data on physician and PA primary area of practice in 2011. Data on primary area of practice are not available prior to 2011.

How are Primary Areas of Practice grouped in the data visualization tool?

The HPDS area of practice categories used in the data visualization tool group physicians and PAs by what they primarily do, not by how they trained. For example, adolescent medicine is categorized as general pediatrics, no matter whether the branch specialty was pediatrics, family medicine, or internal medicine.

The “Primary Care Physician” and “Generalist Physician” groups include counts of physicians from multiple areas of practice are not exclusive groups. For example, a physician who selects a primary area of practice of “pediatrics” is included in the Primary Care Physician, Generalist Physician, and General Pediatrics groups. General Pediatrics is an exclusive group, meaning that the physician is excluded from all other area of practice groups.