By Mariah Taylor

Primary care physicians are performing fewer procedures, but the Medicare population is growing, a recent study found.

The study used the Council of Academic Family Medicine's list of recommended procedures all family physicians should perform competently and compared it to Medicare claims submitted by primary physicians from 2014 to 2021.

The study found a 33% decrease in the outpatient procedures filed and a 36% decrease in the number of physicians filing them. In 2021, there were 904,278 procedures filed by 9,410 family physicians in outpatient settings.

"This decrease might result from the changing scope of FP practice, new referral patterns, task shifting, and/or increased delegation to physician associates and nurse practitioners," the study authors wrote.