Physician Compensation Varied by Gender, Race Despite Overall Raises

Physician compensation increased in 2021, but gender and racial income gaps remained, with male and White physicians making more than women and physicians of color, according to Medscape’s 2022 Physician Compensation report.

“After an extremely difficult two years, physicians are seeing a return to more routine patient practice, and their compensation increases are evidence of that,” Leslie Kane, MA, senior director of Medscape’s Business of Medicine, said in a press release. “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.”

The report included data from 13,000 physicians across 29 specialties collected between October 5, 2021, and January 19, 2022.

In 2021, physicians earned an average of $339,000 per year, with specialists making more ($368,000) and primary care physicians making less ($260,000). Physician compensation has increased by 29 percent overall since 2015. Primary care physician compensation increased by 33 percent, while specialist income rose by 30 percent, the report noted.

Plastic surgeons had the highest incomes in 2021, at $576,000 per year. Orthopedists, cardiologists, otolaryngologists, and urologists followed, with annual salaries ranging from $557,000 to $461,000.

Meanwhile, internists fell toward the lower end of the list, making $264,000 a year. Endocrinologists, family medicine physicians, pediatricians, and public health and preventive medicine specialists had the lowest compensation, ranging from $257,000 to $243,000.

Even though public health and preventive medicine specialists had the lowest income, they were most likely to say that they felt fairly compensated. However, less than half of internists, pediatricians, and endocrinologists said the same.

In general, all specialists saw income increases in 2021, but the report noted that some physicians experienced individual incomes declines.

For example, 21 percent of physicians saw a decrease in their income. Of these physicians, 70 percent said the decline was due to COVID-19-related factors.

Additionally, 57 percent of physicians have an incentive bonus element to their income. Physicians can earn this payment by meeting productivity goals such as patient satisfaction. According to Medscape, incentive bonuses help inspire people to work longer and make more.

Orthopedists had the highest average incentive bonus of $126,000, while pediatricians had the lowest at $28,000.

Despite higher overall physician compensation in 2021, there were still significant income differences between men and women. Male primary care physicians earned 25 percent more than female physicians—$285,000 versus $228,000.

The gap was even wider for specialists, with male specialists ($402,000) making 31 percent more than female specialists ($307,000). However, the specialty gap has narrowed compared to past years. In 2017, male specialists earned 37 percent more than their female counterparts. In 2019, the difference fell to 33 percent. This may be attributed to more women going into specialties and increased efforts from organizations to address gender recruitment and pay inequities, researchers suggested.

All racial and ethnic groups saw salary increases in 2021, but White physicians remained the highest earners.

Incomes rose by 14 percent for White physicians, 16 percent for Asian American physicians, 19 percent for African American/Black physicians, and 21 percent for Latino/Hispanic physicians.

Despite seeing the lowest increase, White physicians earned an average of $346,000 per year, while Asian Americans made $329,000, Latino/Hispanics made $328,000, and African American/Black physicians earned $313,000.

Aside from these disparities, the overall increase in compensation was likely a welcomed change for physicians. A past report from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) revealed that physician compensation plateaued during 2020.

According to a study from RAND Corporation, physician compensation changes at health system-owned practices may depend on the volume of services delivered. The majority of primary care and specialty physicians said that volume was the primary metric behind their base pay.