Doctor compensation continues to grow, ERC region lower than rest of United States, Canada higher
U.S. physicians average $294,000 in compensation this year, up from $206,000 in 2011, according to Medscape’s 2017 Physician Compensation Report. However, of nine U.S. regions, physician payment in the Northeast is sixth and Mid-Atlantic states rank lowest.
The only ERC state among the top 10 is New Hampshire, where physicians average $337,000 in annual compensation. Four ERC states – Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware and New York – are among the lowest ten states.
Photo by Marcelo Leal on Unsplash
Canadian physicians are the only nationality paid more than Americans, on average.
Specialists make 46 percent more than primary care physicians, and their compensation is growing faster as well. Among specialties, orthopedists make the most while pediatricians the least.
Three quarters of physicians receive employer-subsidized health benefits and 61 percent receive dental insurance benefits. While still only a third of physicians (36 percent) participate in Accountable Care Organizations, that number is up from 3 percent from five years ago. About half (52 percent) of primary care physicians have experienced an influx of new patients since implementation of the Affordable Care Act, only 38 percent of specialists have experienced that trend.
Sixty-nine percent of physicians expect to continue to take new and current Medicare and Medicaid patients; 6 percent will not take new patients and 2 percent will not see their current patients.
Three-quarters discuss the costs of treatment with patients, either regularly or occasionally. More than half spend more than 10 hours per week on administration and paperwork; that number is rising.
In very good news, the vast majority in all specialties would choose medicine again as a career.
