# General Internal Medicine Physicians

US SOC code 29-1216. Markdown version of https://futurehistory.earth/timeline/29-1216

Also called: Internist, Internal medicine physician, General internist, Attending physician, Outpatient internist.

## In brief

In May 2025, [BLS](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip) counted **67,150** US general internal medicine physicians, with median pay of **$256,560** a year. Of the BLS counts since 2021, the highest was **67,220**, in May 2022, close to the May 2025 count. The earliest figure here is [an estimate](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK585007/) of **41,000** from 1970, not measured the same way as today's count. The current technology era for general internal medicine physicians: Ambient AI clinical documentation, since 2022.

## What the sources say

### Official outlook

BLS projects employment to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035. Source: [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=29-1216&ioType=o).

### AI exposure studies

- **37.1%** of this job's tasks are exposed to large language models. Not a forecast of job losses. [Eloundou and others, 2023](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv)

Data as of BLS OEWS May 2025; BLS Employment Projections 2025-35. BLS publishes these counts as yearly survey snapshots and cautions against reading them as a precise trend.

## General Internal Medicine Physicians employment and pay by year

- On record since: 1889
- Latest US employment: 67,150 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [3]
- Latest US median pay: $256,560 (May 2025). Source: BLS OEWS May 2025 [6]
- Outlook: +4% by 2035. Source: BLS Employment Projections 2025-35 [22]

### All 13 years of cited US data

| Year | US employment | Annual pay (median unless marked) | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1970 | 41,000 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care [1] |
| 1975 | n/a | $53,900 (estimate) | Est., Health Care Financing Review / CMS [4] |
| 1983 | n/a | $93,451 (estimate) | Est., Health Care Financing Review / CMS [4] |
| 1993 | 65,800 (estimate) | n/a | Est., Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care [1] |
| 1998 | n/a | $148,000 (estimate) | Est., Center for Studying Health System Change [5] |
| 2015 | 114,089 (estimate) | n/a | Est., American Journal of Medicine (2017) [2] |
| 2019 | 44,610 | $201,590 | BLS OEWS May 2019 [3] |
| 2020 | 50,600 | n/a | BLS OEWS May 2020 [3] |
| 2021 | 58,260 | n/a | BLS OEWS May 2021 [3] |
| 2022 | 67,220 | $214,460 | BLS OEWS May 2022 [3] |
| 2023 | 67,210 | $223,310 | BLS OEWS May 2023 [3] |
| 2024 | 66,640 | $236,350 | BLS OEWS May 2024 [3] |
| 2025 | 67,150 | $256,560 | BLS OEWS May 2025 [3] |

## Sources (53)

### Employment series

1. [Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care — Physician Workforce chapter: total active physicians 235,241 in 1970; primary care physicians 101,251 in 1970](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK585007/), Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy
2. [American Journal of Medicine (2017) — "Where Have the Generalists Gone? They Became Specialists, Then Subspecialists": 114,089 general internal medicine specialists in 2015 (13% of all US physicians)](https://www.amjmed.com/article/S0002-9343%2817%2930134-1/pdf), American Journal of Medicine
3. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2020](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm20nat.zip), [2021](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm21nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2024](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)

### Wage series

4. [PMC / Health Care Financing Review (1986) — "Physician incomes and work patterns across specialties: 1975 and 1983-84": internist average net income $53,900 in 1975](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4192917/), Health Care Financing Review / CMS
5. [Center for Studying Health System Change (HSChange) — "Behind the Times: Physician Income, 1995-99": real physician net income declined 5.0% from 1995 to 1999; primary care physicians fell 6.4%; mean specialist income $219,000 vs. primary care $138,000 in 1999 (via Wayback Machine)](https://web.archive.org/web/20100714090841/http://hschange.org/CONTENT/544/), Center for Studying Health System Change
6. BLS OEWS, national cross-industry estimates (flat file), Bureau of Labor Statistics. Editions: [2019](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm19nat.zip), [2022](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm22nat.zip), [2023](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm23nat.zip), [2025](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm25nat.zip)
7. [BLS OEWS May 2024, national cross-industry estimates (flat file)](https://www.bls.gov/oes/special-requests/oesm24nat.zip), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

### Tool eras

8. [Museum of Health Care Blog — "The Story of Dr. Rene Laennec and His Stethoscope" (invention 1816, binaural evolution)](https://museumofhealthcare.wordpress.com/the-story-of-dr-rene-laennec-and-his-stethoscope/), Museum of Health Care
9. [NLM Profiles in Science — William Osler at Johns Hopkins 1889-1905: bedside teaching and physical examination as the foundation of internal medicine training](https://web.archive.org/web/20210513204914/https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/gf/feature/father-of-modern-medicine-the-johns-hopkins-school-of-medicine-1889-1905), National Library of Medicine
10. [Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1924 — Willem Einthoven for the discovery of the mechanism of the electrocardiogram](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/1924/einthoven/facts/), Nobel Prize Foundation
11. [LITFL Medical Eponym Library — History of the Electrocardiogram (Einthoven string galvanometer 1895-1903, clinical adoption timeline)](https://litfl.com/history-of-the-electrocardiogram/), LITFL (Life in the Fast Lane)
12. [Osmosis Blog — "A History of Internal Medicine: From Physical Exams to Precision Medicine": penicillin, cortisone, and the 1940s-1960s therapeutics revolution](https://www.osmosis.org/blog/a-history-of-internal-medicine-from-physical-exams-to-precision-medicine), Osmosis
13. [ACP Online — "Sir William Osler and Internal Medicine": the formation of the specialty and the clinical tradition Osler built](https://www.acponline.org/about-acp/about-internal-medicine/sir-william-osler-and-internal-medicine), American College of Physicians
14. [Health Affairs Forefront — "Medicare, Fair Pay, And The AMA: The Forgotten History": fee-for-service structure and the physician income effects of Medicare 1966](https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/medicare-fair-pay-and-ama-forgotten-history), Health Affairs
15. [PMC / Health Care Financing Review (1986) — physician incomes 1975 vs. 1983-84: GIM real income declined while surgical subspecialties gained; cognitive-surgical income divergence](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4192917/), Health Care Financing Review / CMS
16. [UCSF — "The Hospitalist Turns 20: UCSF-Led Movement Has Revolutionized Inpatient Care" (2016): Wachter-Goldman NEJM 1996 article; 44,000 hospitalists by 2016; Society of Hospital Medicine named 2003](https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2016/08/403841/hospitalist-turns-20-ucsf-led-movement-has-revolutionized-inpatient-care), UC San Francisco
17. [PBS NewsHour — "These doctors think electronic health records are hurting their relationships with patients": HITECH 2009 context; physicians spend 2 min at computer per 1 min with patients](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/doctors-think-electronic-health-records-hurting-relationships-patients), PBS NewsHour
18. [Annals of Internal Medicine (2018) — "Physician Burnout in the Electronic Health Record Era: Are We Ignoring the Real Cause?": EHR as independent predictor of burnout across specialties](https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M18-0139), American College of Physicians / Annals of Internal Medicine
19. [JAMA 2025 multi-site RCT — ambient AI scribes reduced after-hours EHR documentation ("pajama time") by 62%; physician satisfaction improved; note quality equivalent or better](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2826592), JAMA Network Open
20. [KLAS First Look Report — Abridge Ambient AI for Physicians 2026: 94.3/100 KLAS score; Best in KLAS Ambient AI 2025+2026; UPMC, Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins deployments](https://klasresearch.com/report/abridge-2026-ambient-ai-enhancing-physician-workflows/3997), KLAS Research
21. [Feinstein Institutes at Northwell Health — study warns of general internal medicine physician shortage in the US by 2032; number of graduating residents pursuing GIM has decreased by almost half](https://feinstein.northwell.edu/news/the-latest/feinstein-institutes-study-warns-of-general-internal-medicine-doctors-shortage-u-s), Feinstein Institutes / Northwell Health

### Forecasts and exposure studies

22. [BLS Employment Projections 2025-35, National Employment Matrix: 29-1216 General internal medicine physicians (2025: 73.1 thousand; 2035: 76.0 thousand; +4.0%)](https://data.bls.gov/projections/nationalMatrix?queryParams=29-1216&ioType=o), Bureau of Labor Statistics
23. [Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), "GPTs are GPTs", occupation-level exposure data occ\_level.csv (O\*NET-SOC 29-1216.00, human-rated β 0.371)](https://github.com/openai/GPTs-are-GPTs/blob/main/data/occ_level.csv), OpenAI

### Historical notes

24. [NLM Profiles in Science — "Father of Modern Medicine": The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 1889-1905 (William Osler)](https://web.archive.org/web/20210513204914/https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/spotlight/gf/feature/father-of-modern-medicine-the-johns-hopkins-school-of-medicine-1889-1905), National Library of Medicine
25. [University of California San Francisco — "The Flexner Report" (history): 134,402 US physicians in 1907; more than half of medical schools closed by 1935](https://history.library.ucsf.edu/flexner_report.html), UCSF History of Science and Technology
26. [Wikipedia — American Board of Internal Medicine: founded February 28, 1936; inaugural exam December 1936; first subspecialty exams 1941; 425,000+ certificates issued](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Board_of_Internal_Medicine), Wikipedia
27. [Health Affairs Forefront — "Medicare, Fair Pay, And The AMA: The Forgotten History": passage structure, physician fee-setting, and the income effects](https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/medicare-fair-pay-and-ama-forgotten-history), Health Affairs
28. [UCSF — "The Hospitalist Turns 20: UCSF-Led Movement Has Revolutionized Inpatient Care": Wachter-Goldman NEJM 1996; 44,000 hospitalists; Society of Hospital Medicine 2003](https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2016/08/403841/hospitalist-turns-20-ucsf-led-movement-has-revolutionized-inpatient-care), UC San Francisco
29. [PBS NewsHour — "These doctors think electronic health records are hurting their relationships with patients": HITECH 2009; EHR adoption rate; 2 hours EHR per 1 hour patient care](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/doctors-think-electronic-health-records-hurting-relationships-patients), PBS NewsHour
30. [JAMA 2025 RCT — ambient AI scribes: 62% reduction in after-hours documentation; Microsoft Dragon Copilot: 750+ health systems; Abridge: 250+ health system clients](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2826592), JAMA Network Open

### Predecessors & successors

31. [Wikipedia — "History of medicine in the United States": the general practitioner as the predecessor to the board-certified internist, 1880s-1930s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_medicine_in_the_United_States), Wikipedia
32. [American Board of Internal Medicine — founded February 28, 1936; inaugural certification examination December 1936; has issued more than 425,000 initial certificates since founding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Board_of_Internal_Medicine), Wikipedia

### Present-day analysis

- [O\*NET 30.3 — General Internal Medicine Physicians (29-1216.00): tasks, work activities, technology skills, employment data](https://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/29-1216.00), accessed 2026-05-23
- [BLS OOH — Physicians and Surgeons: ~800,000 employed 2024; +3% growth 2024-2034; internal medicine median wage $250,000+](https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/physicians-and-surgeons.htm), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Microsoft Dragon Copilot — rebranded March 2025; 750+ U.S. health systems; 70% documentation time reduction; ICD-10 suggestions GA October 2025](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/industry/healthcare/dragon-copilot/whats-new/3-4), accessed 2026-05-23
- [KLAS First Look Report — Abridge Ambient AI for Physicians 2026: 94.3/100 KLAS score; Best in KLAS Ambient AI 2025+2026; UPMC, Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins deployments](https://klasresearch.com/report/abridge-2026-ambient-ai-enhancing-physician-workflows/3997), accessed 2026-05-23
- [JAMA 2025 multi-site RCT — Ambient AI scribes reduced after-hours EHR documentation ("pajama time") by 62%; physician satisfaction scores improved significantly](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2826592), accessed 2026-05-23
- [ACP — Artificial Intelligence in the Provision of Health Care (2024): AI as decision-support, not autonomous; physician licensure and malpractice liability remain human](https://www.acponline.org/sites/default/files/acp-policy-library/policies/artificial_intelligence_in_the_provision_of_health_care_2024.pdf), accessed 2026-06-21
- [AMA — Augmented Intelligence in Medicine (2025): physicians bear ultimate clinical responsibility for AI-assisted decisions; AI must not undermine physician autonomy; AMA policy on AI development, deployment and use](https://www.ama-assn.org/practice-management/digital-health/augmented-intelligence-medicine), accessed 2026-06-21
- [NEJM AI — ambient AI scribes reduce documentation burden 2–4 hours per clinical day; diagnostic AI accuracy parity vs. senior residents in controlled studies (2025-2026)](https://ai.nejm.org/), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Eloundou et al. 2024 — GPTs are GPTs (Science): occupational LLM exposure framework](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Abridge — Linked Sources traces each clinical note element to exact moment in patient-physician conversation; KLAS 94.3/100; UPMC, Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic deployments](https://www.abridge.com/platform/clinicians), accessed 2026-06-21
- [Surescripts 2025 Annual Impact Report — Prior Authorization Automation: 18-second median approval time; 34% automated approval rate; 68,000+ active prescribers at 42 health systems](https://surescripts.com/insights/2025-annual-impact-report), accessed 2026-05-23
- [Notable Health — 80+ health systems; captures patient-reported outcomes via conversational AI pre-visit; auto-populates EHR intake, triggers clinical protocols, sends personalized AVS (HIMSS 2025)](https://www.notablehealth.com/), accessed 2026-05-23

How to read these figures: https://futurehistory.earth/methodology. Every figure links to its own source; gaps stay gaps.