Primary care physician vs family physician

The differences between primary care physicians and family physicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a primary care physician and a family physician. Additionally, a family physician has an average salary of $215,471, which is higher than the $214,843 average annual salary of a primary care physician.

The top three skills for a primary care physician include patients, internal medicine and family practice. The most important skills for a family physician are patients, family medicine, and primary care.

Primary care physician vs family physician overview

	Primary Care Physician	Family Physician
Yearly salary	$214,843	$215,471
Hourly rate	$103.29	$103.59
Growth rate	7%	7%
Number of jobs	130,606	47,352
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Doctoral Degree, 40%	Doctoral Degree, 36%
Average age	48	48
Years of experience	4	4

What does a primary care physician do?

A Primary Care Physician is responsible for providing regular medical care for their patients. They provide personal assistance, medical attention, and emotional support to others, such as coworkers, customers, and patients.

What does a family physician do?

A family physician specializes in providing health care services to an entire family, regardless of age, health condition, or gender. Aside from conducting regular check-ups and consultations, they serve as a family's primary contact when health problems occur. Among their responsibilities include maintaining a family's health records, helping families navigate through the healthcare system, coordinating with insurance companies, and referring them to other specialists when necessary. Moreover, a family physician builds positive relationships with clients, helping them feel comfortable every step of the way.

Primary care physician vs family physician salary

Primary care physicians and family physicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Primary Care Physician	Family Physician
Average salary	$214,843	$215,471
Salary range	Between $134,000 And $344,000	Between $135,000 And $342,000
Highest paying City	Seattle, WA	Mount Vernon, WA
Highest paying state	North Dakota	Vermont
Best paying company	Alameda Health System	Oregon Medical Group
Best paying industry	Insurance	Health Care

Differences between primary care physician and family physician education

There are a few differences between a primary care physician and a family physician in terms of educational background:

	Primary Care Physician	Family Physician
Most common degree	Doctoral Degree, 40%	Doctoral Degree, 36%
Most common major	Medicine	Medicine
Most common college	Duke University	University of Virginia

Primary care physician vs family physician demographics

Here are the differences between primary care physicians' and family physicians' demographics:

	Primary Care Physician	Family Physician
Average age	48	48
Gender ratio	Male, 49.4% Female, 50.6%	Male, 42.2% Female, 57.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 19.1% White, 61.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 19.1% White, 61.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	13%	13%

Differences between primary care physician and family physician duties and responsibilities

Primary care physician example responsibilities.

Full spectrum of family medicine, including obstetrics, pediatrics and inpatient medicine.
Maintain renewal for physicians' licenses, DEA certificates, ACLS certifications and CME records.
Attend ICU patient care rounds with the medical team.
Display technical proficiency in using NaturaeSoft electronic medical record (EMR).
Provide on-site, immediate response for all hospital emergencies following ACLS protocols.
Enter prescriptions on computer, giving injections, filing charting information in patient chart.

Family physician example responsibilities.

Manage complicated and often difficult to control chronic medical conditions in patients with limit resources.
Examine patients, using medical instruments and equipment; elicit and record information about patient's medical history.
Perform hematology, chemistry and immunology screen test to provide immediate results for diagnosis.
Provide overall quality prenatal health care, gynecological services, patient triage, refer patients with complications, provide patient education service
Case, endotracheal intubation and artificial mechanical ventilation to which it require, bladder catheterizations rectal and nasogastric.

Primary care physician vs family physician skills

Common primary care physician skills

Patients, 25%
Internal Medicine, 14%
Family Practice, 11%
Urgent Care, 8%
Pediatrics, 7%
Patient Care, 6%

Common family physician skills

Patients, 28%
Family Medicine, 26%
Primary Care, 15%
Urgent Care, 8%
EMR, 7%
Internal Medicine, 3%

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Primary Care Physician
Primary Care Physician vs Family Physician

Updated January 8, 2025

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