New ACS Tool Maps Where Surgeons Practice Across the US

A new ACS resource gives surgeons, healthcare leaders, and policymakers a detailed view of where surgeons practice across the US and where potential gaps in access may exist. 

Developed in collaboration with the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the ACS Surgical Workforce Mapping Tool allows users to explore workforce distribution by specialty and geography.

The tool, unveiled at Clinical Congress 2026, accompanies a new study in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS) that identified 201,394 surgeons practicing in the US as of April 2025. 

The study found that despite a national supply of 59.2 surgeons per 100,000 people, substantial local differences exist. Among 3,144 counties, 951 (30%) had no identified surgeon in any of the 12 specialties studied, representing 9.6 million residents. In addition, 1,180 counties (38%) had no identified general surgeon, home to 15.1 million people. Researchers also identified 434 critical access hospitals in counties without an identified surgeon.

“For a patient, the question is not how many surgeons the country has; it is whether there is one available where they live,” said Thomas C. Tsai, MD, MPH, FACS, Medical Director for Health Policy Research in the ACS Division of Advocacy and Health Policy and a study coauthor.

Another key finding demonstrates why geographic scale matters. Although every Hospital Referral Region had a general surgeon, these large, multicounty regions can conceal local differences in surgeon availability. Uneven distribution also requires specialty-specific interpretation, since some complex care is intentionally regionalized to concentrate expertise.

Users can compare counties and regions, filter by specialty, overlay hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers, and download maps for presentations or advocacy materials. The resource can support discussions about surgical training, recruitment, retention, and workforce needs in underserved communities. However, it measures surgeon locations rather than surgical capacity, patient travel time, or population health needs.

The JACS study has drawn media attention, including coverage in TIME, which highlighted the findings and Dr. Tsai’s perspective on surgeons’ broader role in sustaining rural healthcare.