Physician Compensation

A survey of over 1300 doctors on their compensation reveals a series of interesting data points.   (Doc Comp Survey)   Of the respondents, 64% were male, 42% were urban, 43% were suburban and 15% were rural, they were split 50/50 primary care/specialist and 17% had been in practice less than five years, 16% for five to ten years, 15% for eleven to fifteen years and 53% for more than 15 years.  About 28% are in solo practice, 42% in groups of two to nine doctors, 11% in groups of ten to twenty and 19% in groups of twenty or more.  Around 56.5% are independent and 43.5% are in practices owned by a hospital or health system.  Almost 44% fall in the owner category and 56% are employed.  Nearly 8% say they work 1-30 hours a week, 23% work 31-40 hours, 47% work 41-60 hours and 22% say they work more than 61 hours a week.

Primary care physicians report that about 26% of them make more than $200,000 per year.  For pediatrics only 21% report over $200,000 in income, for obstetrics/gynecology the figure is over 50%, for psychiatry it is around 38%.  And then there is radiology, where 87% report more than $200,000 in income and 57% more than $300,000.  No wonder radiology is such a cost target.  More physicians report a decline in income in the most recent year than an increase and the amount of income decline is greater than the increase.  Many physicians report feeling overworked.  About 15% say their practices are not accepting new Medicare patients and 4% say their practices have stopped seeing Medicare patients altogether.  Around 36% say their annual malpractice premium is $7000 or less and 20% say it is more than $15,000 per year.  That is a lot of after tax income.