Minnesota s Physical Therapist Workforce, 2015 HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2015 PHYSICAL THERAPIST WORKFORCE SURVEY i Overall According to the Minnesota Board of Physical Therapy, as of April 2016, there were 5,039 actively licensed physical therapists ii. Demographics Sex. Like other health professions, physical therapy is female-dominated; 74 percent of physical therapists are women. Age. Physical therapy is a young profession. Fifty-seven percent of all physical therapists are 44 or younger. Just one out of five are 55 or older and are closer to retirement. Age of Minnesota Physical Therapists 65 and older 3% 55 to 64 17% 45 to 54 35 to 44 34 and younger 24% 27% 30% Source: Minnesota Board of Physical Therapy, April 2016. Analysis done by MDH. Percentages are based on all 4,685 licensees. Note: new licensees in 2016 are missing data, and are likely to be younger. Race. The vast majority (91 percent) of physical therapists indicated that they were white, which is typical of licensed healthcare professionals in Minnesota. Minnesota s Physical Therapist Workforce, July 2016 1
Race of Minnesota Physical Therapists White/Caucasian 91.2% Asian Hispanic/Latino Black or African American American Indian or Alaskan Native Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Other 1.6% 1.0% 0.4% 0.3% 0.2% 1.0% Source: MDH Physical Therapist Workforce Questionnaire, 2015. Respondents could select as many races as applicable. Education Level. Physical therapy programs now only offer doctorate s. Other s were allowed previous to this change, so physical therapists still have a variety of s. Two-fifths (44 percent) of the profession have a doctorate. Ninety-three percent of those 35 and younger have a doctorate compared to 32 percent of those 35 to 44, and 9 percent of those 55 to 64. Sixty-six percent of those 55 to 64 have a bachelor s (figure not shown). Education Level of Minnesota Psychologists 25% 26% 44% 3% <1%% 2% Certificate Associate Degree Bachelor's Master's Doctorate or professional Residency or post professional Source: MDH Physical Therapist Workforce Questionnaire, 2015. The chart is based on 4,860 survey responses. Minnesota s Physical Therapist Workforce, July 2016 2
Employment Share of Employed. Overall, 96 percent of Minnesota licensed physical therapists reported on the MDH questionnaire that they were working in a paid or unpaid position related to [their] license. The small share not working in a physical therapy-related capacity, are retired, not working due to family or medical reasons, seeking work as a physical therapist or unemployed and seeking work in another profession or field. Eighty-five percent of physical therapists report they do not have a specialty area. Of those that do, the most common is orthopedics (7 percent). Hours Worked. Physical therapists reported the number of hours they worked in a typical week. The median number of hours worked in a week was 40, with three out of five working between 31 and 40 hours per week, and 24 percent working 30 hours a week or less. Fifty-eight percent are working the same number of hours in 2015 as compared to what they reported in 2014. If they reported different hours worked between 2014 and 2015, about equal amounts are working more (20 percent) and less (22 percent) hours. Hours Worked in a Typical Week 59% 5% 7% 12% 15% 2% <1% 10 or less 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61 or more Source: MDH Physical Therapist Workforce Questionnaire, 2015. The chart is based on 4,642 survey responses. Future Plans. The Minnesota physical therapy workforce is relatively stable. Just over two-thirds of respondents currently working in Minnesota plan to work in physical therapy in the state for more than 10 years. Additionally, 13 percent are planning to practice in Minnesota 5 year or less. (Of these, 64 percent indicated that they planned to retire and 27 percent plan to move to another state.) Minnesota s Physical Therapist Workforce, July 2016 3
Number of Years Planning to Practice in Minnesota 5 years or less 13% 6 to 10 years 19% More than 10 years 68% Source: MDH Physical Therapist Workforce Questionnaire, 2015. The chart is based on 4,240 survey responses. Work Setting. The questionnaire asked physical therapists to identify their work settings. While physical therapists work in a variety of settings, the most common is to work in a hospital (either inpatient or outpatient) followed by an office/clinic. Twenty-one percent of those working as a physical therapist in both 2014 and 2015 changed work settings indicating some shifting of employment (figure not shown). Physical Therapists Work Setting Share of Physical Therapists Working in this Setting Setting Office/clinic 27.7% Hospital (outpatient) 25.5% Hospital (inpatient) 11.4% Home health agency 9.9% Long-term care facility 8.2% Inpatient rehab unit/facility 5.4% School (K-12) 3.5% College or university 2.0% Health and wellness facility 1.7% U.S. Military/Veterans Administration 0.5% Research center 0.2% Other 3.7% Source: MDH Physical Therapist Workforce Questionnaire, 2015. The chart is based on 4,420 survey responses. Minnesota s Physical Therapist Workforce, July 2016 4
Geographic Distribution To get a sense of the accessibility of services around the state, the next two charts provide two different views of the geographic distribution of physical therapists who report they are currently working in the field and are working in a location in Minnesota. These analyses are based on geocoded addresses that are provided through the questionnaire. iii Distribution by Region. The first chart shows the distribution of physical therapists across the six planning areas around Minnesota. As shown, the highest percent of physical therapists (61 percent) are practicing in the Twin Cities metro area, with significantly smaller shares practicing everywhere else in the state. For reference, the Twin Cities metro area houses approximately 54 percent of the state s population, and the remainder of the state regions house between 6 and 13 percent. Slightly less than 10 percent of physical therapists are in each of the other regions. Southwest and Northeast have the lowest percentages of physical therapists. Physical Therapists by Minnesota Region Minneapolis-Saint Paul 61% Central Minnesota Southeast Minnesota Northwest Minnesota Northeast Minnesota Southwest Minnesota 9% 9% 9% 7% 5% Source: MDH Physical Therapist Workforce Questionnaire, 2015. Percentages above are based on 3,786 valid Minnesota addresses for those currently working as a physical therapist. Distribution across urban and rural areas. The next chart provides another view of the geographic distribution of physical therapists, comparing the size of the population to every one physical therapist in urban, micropolitan, small town, and rural areas. Physical therapists are better distributed in rural areas than some other health care occupations, but rural or isolated areas still have more than double the provider to population ratio than in urban areas. Minnesota s Physical Therapist Workforce, July 2016 5
Minnesota Population-to-Physical Therapist Ratio Urban 1,300 Micropolitan or Large Rural 1,522 Small Town or Small Rural 1,497 Rural or Isolated 2,895 Source: MDH Physical Therapist Workforce Questionnaire, 2015. Percentages above are based on 3,786 valid Minnesota addresses for those currently working as a physical therapist. Visit our website at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/orhpc/workforce/data.html to learn about the Minnesota healthcare workforce. County-level data for this profession is available at http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/orhpc/workforce/database/ Minnesota Department of Health Office of Rural Health and Primary Care 85 East 7 th Place, Suite 220 Saint Paul, MN 55117 (651) 201-3838 health.orhpc@state.mn.us i The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), in cooperation with the Minnesota Board of Physical Therapy, collects information on demographics, education, career and future plans of physical therapists during a workforce survey November to December 2015. Unless noted, all data are based on information collected from that survey. The survey response rate was 97 percent. Data for specific questions include only those who responded to the question. ii Of the total licensed professionals, 1,164 listed a practice address outside of Minnesota; 593 did not provide a practice address, and based on survey responses, 4% of the total licensees are not currently practicing as a physical therapist. Thus, not all actively licensed physical therapists are part of the Minnesota workforce. iii Approximately 6 percent of physical therapists responding to the survey and working reported no address. Thirteen percent reported an address outside of Minnesota. These two groups of professionals may or may not be providing services in Minnesota and could not be assigned an address location (geocoded). Minnesota s Physical Therapist Workforce, July 2016 6