Physician Salaries

2011-09-16T12:43:00.000-07:00

The mean annual salary of a MD specialist is $175,011 in the US, and $272,000 for surgeons. However, because of commodity inflation, increasing negligent costs, steep price rise of rental, the annual salary range of a MD varies and is not rising as fast as other professional pay. Topics 1. Physician Salary: Broad Category and Specialties 2. Physicians Salary by Country 3.Annual Mean Salary of Physicians by State and Specialty 4.Physician Salary: Rural vs City 5.Is Physician Salary Declining ? 6.Physician Salary in 1988 Survey 1.Physician Salary: Broad Category and Specialties Ranked by Wages, Unadjusted for Control Variables (based on 2004-2005 survey) The table below details the average range of salaries for physicians of selected specialties as of July 2010.

Specialty	Median salary (USD)	Average salary/hour (USD)
Anesthesiology	331,000 to $423,507
Dermatology	313,100 to $480,088	103
Emergency medicine	239,000 to $316,296	87
Cardiac Surgery	218,684 to $500,000
Family practice	175,000 to $220,196	58
Internal medicine	184,200 to $231,691	58
Neurology	213,000 to $301,327	93
Obstetrics and Gynecology	251,500 to $326,924	83
Ophthalmology	150,000 to $351,000
Orthopedic surgery	397,879 to $600,000
Otolaryngology	191,000 to $393,000
Pathology	239,000 to $331,842
Pediatrics	160,111 to $228,750	69
Psychiatry	173,800 to $248,198	72
Radiology (diagnostic)	377,300 to $478,000
Surgery (general)	284,642 to $383,333
Urology	331,192 to $443,518
Neurological surgery	350,000 to $705,000	132
Plastic surgery	265,000 to $500,000	114
Gastroenterology	251,026 to $396,450	93
Pulmonology	165,000 to $365,875	72

References:

Leigh JP, Tancredi D, Jerant A, Kravitz RL (October 2010). "Physician wages across specialties: informing the physician reimbursement debate". Arch. Intern. Med. 170 (19): 1728–34. doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2010.350. PMID 20975019.

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2. Physicians Salary by Country

Source: Congressional Research Service (CRS) analysis of Remuneration of Health Professions, OECD Health Data 2006 (October 2006), available at [http://www.ecosante.fr/OCDEENG/70.html]. Notes: Sorted by specialists’ compensation. Amounts are adjusted using U.S. dollar purchasing power parities. Amounts from previous years are trended up to 2004 dollars using the annualized Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Cost Index for wages and salaries of health services workers in private industry. It is not known whether wage growth in health professions in other countries was similar to that in the United States. Amounts are from previous years for 10 countries: data for Australia, Canada, Denmark (for specialists and nurses), Finland (for nurses), and the Netherlands are from 2003; data for Belgium (for specialists), Denmark (for general practitioners), New Zealand (for nurses), and Sweden are from 2002; data for Switzerland and the United States (for specialists and general practitioners) are from 2001; and data for Belgium (for general practitioners) and the United States (for nurses) are from 2000. Ratios of salaries to GDP per capita reflect the year the data was collected and are not adjusted for inflation. For countries that have both self-employed and salaried professionals in a given field, the amount presented here is the higher of the two salaries. Four countries have both salaried and self-employed specialists: the Czech Republic (where compensation is $29,484 for salaried and $34,852 for self-employed specialists), Greece ($67,119 and $64,782), the Netherlands ($130,911 and $252,727), and the United States ($170,300 and $229,500). One country has both salaried and self-employed general practitioners: in the United States, salaried general practitioners earn $134,600, compared with $154,200 if self-employed. All nurses are salaried among this data. Recent data are available only for 21 of the 30 OECD countries.

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Annual Mean Salary of Physicians by State and Specialty

1. Anesthesiologist Salaries by State

2. Family and General Practitioner Salaries by State

3.General Internist Salaries by State

4.Obstetricians and Gynecologists Salaries by State

5.Pediatricians, General Salaries by State

6.Psychiatrists Salaries by State

7.Surgeons Salaries by State

References

1.Occupational Employment and Wages, May 2010.U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291061.htm. Last Modified Date: May 17, 2011 Accessed on: Sep 14, 2011

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Physician Salary: Rural vs City

"Because the cost of living is lower in rural areas, rural physicians have significantly more purchasing power—or higher “real” incomes—after accounting for the lower cost of living. The average income of rural physicians adjusted for the cost of living was significantly higher than urban physicians’—$225,000 vs. $199,000. This translates into rural physician incomes providing about 13 percent more purchasing power than urban physician incomes."(1)

Average Physician Incomes in Urban and Rural Areas, Unadjusted and Adjusted for Local Cost of Living, 2003

References:

1. Reschovsky JD, Staiti AB.Physician incomes in rural and urban America.Issue Brief Cent Stud Health Syst Change. 2005 Jan;(92):1-4. (PMID:15675029)

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Is Physician Salary Declining ?

This graph speaks volumes about the declining physician salaries.

Thus, we see Real Salary(when salary is adjusted for inflation) of Physician is declining. Nominal salary( when not adjusted for inflation) is on the rise as with any other occupation. Take a look at the following graph-

References:

1. Physician Income : The Decade in Review by Carol K. Kane, PhD and Horst Loeblich ( pdf)

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Physician Salary in 1988 Survey

It could be noted that Radiology, Gastroenterology, and even General Surgery were not as well payed as they are now. Also Psychiatrist were making more than an Internist.

Source: Health Care Financing Administration, Physicians’ Practice Cost and Income Survey (PPCIS), 1988. Note: Nonfederal patient care physicians. Income from medical practice after expenses and before taxes. Self employed physicians include physicians employcd by another physician.

References

1.Pope GC, Schneider JE.Trends in physician income. Health Aff (Millwood). 1992 Spring;11(1):181-93.

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