Have Increases in Pediatric Subspecialists Improved Patient Access to Care?

Prior workforce analyses have raised concerns about a shortage of pediatric subspecialists, which can limit access to necessary care. In the current repeated cross-sectional study of American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) subspecialist data (first analyzed in 2003 and now in 2019), researchers assessed the number and geographic distribution of pediatric subspecialists and their proximity to patients.

Patient proximity was measured by straight-line distances between zip codes where patients reside and zip codes of subspecialty practices. Geographic distribution was represented by number of pediatric subspecialists per 100,000 children in a hospital referral region. Results were as follows:

• Between 2003 and 2019, the number of subspecialists increa…