NEW YORK, April 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- After stagnating during the height of the pandemic, physician salaries rebounded 7% towards the end of 2021, with increases seen in primary care and all other specialties, according to the results of the Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2022: Incomes Gain, Pay Gaps Remain, released today.
As medical practices reopened and patient volume returned to pre-pandemic levels, salaries also increased to an overall average of $339,000 (up from $299,999 in 2020), a jump of more than 29% since 2015. The highest-paid physicians were plastic surgeons ($576,000), orthopedists ($557,000), and cardiologists ($490,000), while primary care physicians, pediatricians, and public health & preventive medicine specialists reported the lowest compensation, at $255,000, $244,000 and $243,000, respectively.
But pay gaps along gender and racial/ethnic lines persisted across every specialty, remaining largely unchanged since 2017. In this year's report, male physicians in primary care earned 23% more than female physicians, and male specialists earned 31% more than female specialists. The specialty pay gap narrowed slightly from 37% in 2017, which may reflect efforts by professional specialty organizations to address gender recruitment and pay inequities. Caucasian/White physicians overall earned more than Latinx/Hispanic, Asian American physicians and African American/Black physicians.
To read the full report, click here: https://www.medscape.com/slideshow/2022-compensation-overview-6015043?faf=1
The annual Medscape Physician Compensation Report is the most comprehensive and widely used physician salary survey in the U.S., assessing compensation, hours worked, time spent with patients, and what they find most rewarding -- and challenging -- about their jobs. The 2022 report surveyed 13,000 physicians across 29 specialties from October 5, 2021 to January 19, 2022.
"After an extremely difficult two years, physicians are seeing a return to more routine patient practice, and their compensation increases are evidence of that," said Leslie Kane, MA, Senior Director, Medscape Business of Medicine. "That said, we're seeing little progress on pay equity – although women have made inroads into many of the higher-earning specialties--, and physicians continue to raise the issue of workload and administrative demands. " "We are encouraged to see continued efforts by the medical community.
