Dive Brief:
- The gender pay gap among physicians narrowed last year for the first time in five years, although women physicians still earned 19% less than their male counterparts, according to Medscape’s annual physician compensation report out Friday.
- The racial pay gap, however, remained unchanged and Black physicians were found to earn 13% less than White physicians.
- Across the board, physician salaries rose about 4% last year compared to 2021. The highest paid specialties included plastic surgery, orthopedics and cardiology while the lowest were infectious disease, family medicine and pediatrics, according to Medscape.
Dive Insight:
The rise in salaries can partly be attributed to the national physician shortage, which was made worse by persistent burnout that spurred clinicians to leave the profession, according to the report.
A Doximity report from earlier this year reported that 36% of physicians were considering early retirement due to overwork. By 2034, the U.S. could experience a shortage of up to 124,000 physicians, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated burnout as providers faced a growing potential for patient violence, increased workloads and emotional exhaustion.
But the vast majority of healthcare leaders don’t have any formal plan for reducing physician burnout and improving retention.
“At a time of growing physician shortages, it’s important for institutions and organizations to continue to examine industry norms and practices that can hinder physician satisfaction with their career choices,” Leslie Kane, senior director of Medscape Business of Medicine, said in a statement.
Still, 73% of physicians said they would choose to enter medicine again. And, this year saw a record number of residency matches, which have risen nearly 15% over the past five years.
The Medscape study, which surveyed 10,011 physicians across 29 specialties, found that over half of physicians said they were satisfied with their pay, but some cited insurance reimbursement, particularly from Medicare and Medicaid, as a source of frustration. The percentage of physicians who said they would continue to see patients in those programs dropped from 71% in 2021 to 65% last year.