More than one-third of U.S. counties have no general surgeon, according to a study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.
The study mapped surgeons across 12 surgical specialties in every U.S. county, using April 2025 data from the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System and CMS Provider of Services files, according to a Sept. 28 news release from the American College of Surgeons.
Here are six things to know from the study:
- There are 1,180 counties in the U.S. with no general surgeon. More than 15 million Americans live across the counties without a general surgeon.
- Another 951 counties, or about 30%, do not have a surgeon across any of the 12 specialties studied, which include orthopedics, anesthesiology and ophthalmology.
- The study counted 201,394 surgeons practicing in the U.S., for an average of 59.2 surgeons per 100,000 people.
- All 306 hospital referral regions in the U.S. have at least one general surgeon, but the regions are large, multi-county areas. Having a surgeon in the region does not necessarily mean there is a surgeon nearby, especially for rural areas.
- There are 475 hospitals and surgical facilities in counties with no identified full-time surgeon. Of those, 434 were critical access hospitals.
- The Ensuring Access to General Surgery Act of 2026 (H.R. 7198) would direct the Health Resources and Services Administration to develop a methodology for identifying general surgery shortage areas that considers surgeon supply and geographic service areas.
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