Comparison of MD and DO in the United States

In the United States, physicians (medical doctors) who practice medicine hold either the Doctor of Medicine degree (MD) or the Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree (DO). Other than DO medical students learning osteopathic manipulative medicine, the medical training for MDs and DOs is indistinguishable. MD and DO physicians complete conventional residencies in hospitals and training programs, are licensed in all 50 states, and have rights and responsibilities that are identical.

Today, U.S. osteopathic physicians (DOs) are fully licensed, patient-centered medical doctors. They have full medical practice rights throughout the United States and in 44 countries abroad. A Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) is different than an osteopath: a DO is a physician, while an osteopath is not.

In 2005, Jordan Cohen, MD, the president of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) stated:

After more than a century of often contentious relationships between the osteopathic and allopathic medical professions, we now find ourselves living at a time when osteopathic and allopathic graduates are both sought after by many of the same residency programs; are in most instances both licensed by the same licensing boards; are both privileged by many of the same hospitals; and are found in appreciable numbers on the faculties of each other's medical schools.

The American Medical Association's current definition of a physician is "an individual who has received a 'Doctor of Medicine' or a 'Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine' degree or an equivalent degree following successful completion of a prescribed course of study from a school of medicine or osteopathic medicine."

There are significantly more MDs than DOs, though the share of DOs is increasing. Of first-year medical students matriculating in 2015, 25.4% (7,025 students) entered DO medical programs and 74.6% (20,631 students) entered MD programs. The Association of American Medical Colleges projects that from 2015 to 2020, first-year DO student enrollment will increase by 20.5% versus a 5.3% increase in MD students.

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