Neurosurgery is the medical specialty with the highest average annual compensation, according to the 2019 Physician Compensation Report from Doximity, which draws on responses from nearly 90,000 licensed U.S. doctors over six years.
The 2019 report examines how compensation changed from 2017 to 2018. The report also examined some of the underlying drivers of compensation across specialties, as well as diving into pay disparity between men and women in the field.
Compensation across the healthcare field is being heavily impact by hospital mergers and acquisition activity, which has reached record levels over the last several years. For the first time ever, more physicians are employed rather than self-employed, largely a result from bigger health systems and hospitals.
This has an impact on wages, too. Previous Doximity studies have found rising compensation, but year-over-year compensation recently began to plateau. Nationally, wages were flat, dropping less than 1% between 2017 and 2018. However, some markets saw bigger gains.
Here are the top five medical specialties with the highest average annual compensation:
- Neurosurgery––$616,823
- Thoracic surgery––$584,287
- Orthopedic surgery––$526,385
- Radiation oncology––$486,089
- Vascular surgery––$484,740
Here are the five medical specialties with the lowest average annual compensation:
- Pediatric infectious disease––$185,892
- Pediatric endocrinology––$201,033
- Pediatrics––$222,942
- Pediatric hematology & oncology––$222,953
- Family medicine––$242,352
The report did find good news on pay parity, with a slightly smaller gap and increasing wages for women physicians, but male physicians still earn an average of $1.25 for every $1 female physicians earn in MSAs.
See the full report here.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."