Physician occupation totals in FEC itemizations

A high itemization count relative to the dollars

PHYSICIAN is a volume occupation: 1,579,227 line items, fewer than the ATTORNEY string but still well over a million transactions. $423,444,564 divided by those itemizations is about $268 per contribution. Divided by 90,799 donors, the mean is about $4,664 per donor record.

The contribution-to-donor ratio is about 17 itemizations per donor record. That pattern often appears when many people give repeated modest amounts that still clear the itemization threshold. The FEC file does not flag which of the 1,579,227 lines were $200 gifts and which were larger; only the occupation-level sums are in this packet.

Compare the shape, not a ranking of professions. PHYSICIAN has more itemizations than several executive titles that carry similar or higher dollars. That is a filing-volume fact, not a statement about medical income or political intensity.

Self-reporting on medical job titles

Donors choose the word. PHYSICIAN is one common choice. Others write doctor, surgeon, MD, or a specialty. Those other strings are not included in $423,444,564. Combining them without a documented crosswalk would invent a total the bulk file does not publish.

Best-efforts rules require committees to ask for occupation. They do not require a DEA number or board certification on the receipt. A retired physician, a resident, or a donor who used to practice may still type PHYSICIAN. A practicing physician who wrote EXECUTIVE or PROFESSOR will land in those other buckets.

What 90,799 donors does not measure

90,799 is the count of contributor records attached to PHYSICIAN itemizations. Spouses, joint accounts, and spelling variants can create extra records. The same person giving through two addresses may appear twice. LobbyVault reports the FEC record count, not a de-duplicated headcount of clinicians.

The occupation hub also does not split gifts by specialty, hospital, or private practice. Employer is a different column. Industry pages group employer-side categories and will not reproduce this occupation total. Restated in compact millions, the occupation total is $423.4 million. That compact figure is the same headline amount as the full dollar total on this page, rounded to one decimal place in millions.

Using the table as a public record

Lead with the three facts: $423,444,564, 1,579,227 contributions, and 90,799 donors. Then open the PHYSICIAN occupation page for recipient and donor rows. The all-occupations list shows neighboring clinical and nonclinical strings as they were filed.

Do not treat the page as evidence that physicians as a voting bloc preferred a party. Recipient party and office live on other FEC fields. This overlay only filters the occupation column. Restated in compact millions, the occupation total is $423.4 million. That compact figure is the same headline amount as the full dollar total on this page, rounded to one decimal place in millions.

Source note for researchers

Figures come from FEC bulk itemizations indexed on LobbyVault. Occupation is self-reported. The packet does not include a cycle filter, so the three numbers are the occupation totals in the loaded extract, not a single election-year slice unless the live table is filtered that way.

Researchers comparing occupation keys should keep PHYSICIAN on its own line with its own dollar, contribution, and donor facts. The occupations index is the inventory of neighboring strings. Industry pages remain an employer-side cut and should not be added to this occupation total. Unitemized receipts never carry an occupation code, so $423.4 million is itemized activity for this string in the loaded extract. Restated in compact millions, the occupation total is $423.4 million. That compact figure is the same headline amount as the full dollar total on this page, rounded to one decimal place in millions.

Clinical titles that are not inside PHYSICIAN

Searchers often want “doctors.” The FEC file does not have a doctors flag. PHYSICIAN is $423.4 million on 1,579,227 itemizations from 90,799 donor records. Surgeon, anesthesiologist, psychiatrist, and MD are other strings unless they normalized to PHYSICIAN. Building a clinical super-total is allowed as research, but it must name every key included. This overlay names one key.

The 1,579,227 line count is the practical warning. PHYSICIAN is a high-frequency occupation: about 17 itemizations per donor record and about $268 per line. That is a different shape from CHAIRMAN or FOUNDER, which post fewer lines and higher means. Use the shape when comparing occupations. Do not use it to claim that physicians are more or less politically active than other licensed groups; activity outside itemized federal receipts is invisible here.

Questions

How much have PHYSICIAN donors given according to the FEC?

Itemizations with occupation PHYSICIAN sum to $423,444,564 in LobbyVault’s index of FEC bulk data. That is the occupation-string total, not a licensed-physician census and not a sum of every medical job title in the file. The matching contribution count is 1,579,227 and the matching donor-record count is 90,799. Those three numbers are occupation-string totals from FEC Form 3/3X itemizations indexed on LobbyVault, not a licensed roster and not a party split.

How many physician contributions are itemized?

1,579,227 contributions carry the PHYSICIAN occupation text, attached to 90,799 donor records. The contribution figure counts transactions; the donor figure counts contributor records. Occupation is self-reported free text on FEC Form 3 and Form 3X schedules. Unitemized receipts never enter this occupation total. The live hub may apply cycle filters; this packet is the harvested occupation key.

Does PHYSICIAN include surgeons or doctors who used other words?

Only if the occupation field normalized to PHYSICIAN. Donors who wrote surgeon, MD, or doctor are in other strings. This page’s $423,444,564 does not merge those labels. The matching contribution count is 1,579,227 and the matching donor-record count is 90,799. Those three numbers are occupation-string totals from FEC Form 3/3X itemizations indexed on LobbyVault, not a licensed roster and not a party split.

Can I read party preference from physician occupation totals?

No. Occupation is a contributor description. Party and candidate identity are separate FEC fields. $423,444,564 is money on lines that happen to say PHYSICIAN. The matching contribution count is 1,579,227 and the matching donor-record count is 90,799. Those three numbers are occupation-string totals from FEC Form 3/3X itemizations indexed on LobbyVault, not a licensed roster and not a party split.