Physician Pay Scale
Primary Care Falls Low on Physician Wage Scale
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Clinicians’ wages appear to vary significantly across physician specialties and are lowest for those in primary care, according to a report in the October 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
Using data from a representative sample of 6381 physicians providing patient care in 2004 to 2005, J. Paul Leigh, PhD, and colleagues at the University of California Davis School of Medicine, compared wages across 4 broad specialty categories: primary care, surgery, internal medicine and pediatric subspecialties, and other. They also assessed wages among 41 specific specialties along with differences based on demographic, geographic, and market variables.
Overall, clinicians earned an average annual income of $187,857 and worked an average of 53.1 hours per week. When compared with those of primary care specialists, wages were 48% higher among surgeons, 36% higher among internal medicine and pediatric subspecialists and 45% higher among clinicians in other specialties.
In the analysis of 41 specific specialties, neurologic surgeons ($132 per hour) and radiation oncologists ($126 per hour) earned the highest wages. The specialists who earned the least per hour were those in internal medicine and pediatrics ($50) and other pediatric subspecialists ($52).
When compared with the reference group of general surgeons, whose hourly earnings were close to the median or midpoint at $86, wages were significantly lower for internal medicine and pediatrics combined ($24 less), internal medicine ($24 less), family medicine ($24 less), and other pediatric subspecialties ($23 less). Physicians in neurologic surgery, radiation and medical oncology, dermatology, orthopedic surgery, and ophthalmology all earned $17 to $50 more per hour than general surgeons.
These differences in wages did not change when factors such as age, race, gender, and geographic region were considered. “Some might interpret these findings as reflecting labor markets responding to supply and demand,” the authors write. “However, market forces are constrained in the regulated physician environment. In addition, experts have projected substantial shortfalls in numbers of primary care physicians in the near future, a potential threat to the health of the American public.”
“The primary care wage gap was likely conservative owing to exclusion of radiologists, anesthesiologists, and pathologists,” they conclude. “In light of low and declining medical student interest in primary care, these findings suggest the need for payment reform aimed at increasing incomes or reducing work hours for primary care physicians.”
Published on October 26, 2010
Source: Leigh JP, Tancredi D, Jerant A, Kravitz RL. Physician wages across specialties: informing the physician reimbursement debate. Arch Intern Med. 2010;170(19):1728-1734.
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