It's a family affair for Brian Blank at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he celebrates with his wife, Laura, and daughter Lillian after learning that he's going to his number one pick, Duke Family Medicine Residency in Durham, N.C.

Pause for just a moment to cheer this fact: Today, 3,060 graduating medical students choose a career in family medicine.

That's the news just released by the National Resident Matching Program (NRMP) for this annual celebratory event commonly referred to as the Match.

And with that announcement comes the realization that for the sixth straight year, the family medicine match rate ticked upward. Furthermore, 3,216 family medicine residency positions were offered in 2015, an increase of 84 positions compared to 2014.

That overall family medicine fill rate of 95.1 percent -- down slightly from 95.8 percent in 2014 -- represents 60 more positions accepted by graduates compared to last year.

The AAFP Medical Education Division's count of students matching to family medicine includes students who matched into traditional family medicine residency programs as well as into programs that combine family medicine education with other focused training. Those additional programs are

"The Academy congratulates and welcomes these new family medicine recruits," said AAFP President Robert Wergin, M.D., of Milford, Neb., in an interview with AAFP News. "When these residents complete their training programs, there will be plenty of patients across the country eager to welcome new family physicians to their communities."

All the well-wishing must be tempered by this sobering reality: The number of U.S. seniors choosing family medicine slowed at an unexpected rate in 2015, to 1,422 -- with just six more U.S. seniors lining up for the specialty than last year.

Although the Academy will work in coming weeks and months to determine specific factors for that slowing, Wergin pointed to a health care environment in which policymakers and payers have caused instability by shifting positions, reversing decisions and changing the rules -- sometimes simultaneously.

"This uneven environment likely is taking its toll on medical students who are anxious to finish their clinical training and move on with their careers," said Wergin.

Read more:

AAFP Celebrates New Recruits to Family Medicine, Acknowledges Work Ahead