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Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019
| Contributor Information
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
The Medscape Physician Compensation Report is the most comprehensive and widely used physician salary survey in the United States. In this year's report, almost 20,000 physicians in more than 30 specialties responded to Medscape's salary survey. Ophthalmologists who responded provided salary information, hours worked, time spent seeing patients, and what they find most rewarding and challenging about their jobs. (Note: Label values on charts are rounded, but rankings and calculations are based on raw data to avoid rounding errors.)
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Survey respondents were asked to provide their compensation for patient care. For employed physicians, that includes salary, bonus, and profit-sharing contributions. For partners, it includes earnings after taxes and deductible business expenses before income taxes. Only full-time salaries are reported.
Ophthalmologists are above the middle earners of all physician specialties. Ophthalmologist income is somewhat up from last year's average income of $357,000. As more baby boomers become senior citizens, certain specialties will experience more demand for medical services. "Those over age 65 make up 14% of our population, yet they are driving the vast majority of healthcare services and are accessing healthcare services in greater numbers," says Travis Singleton, senior vice president of Merritt Hawkins, a leading physician search/recruitment firm.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Male ophthalmologists spent nearly the same amount of time seeing patients as did their female peers.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Paperwork and administration is a growing burden for physicians in all specialties. Of physicians overall, 38% spent 10-19 hours per week on paperwork and administrative tasks, and 36% spent 20 hours or more. Ophthalmologists appear to have fewer of those burdens than other physicians; 52% were saddled with 10 or more hours per week of paperwork and administrative chores.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Women spent about 2 hours more per week than did men on paperwork and administrative chores.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Our survey shows that 80% of ophthalmologists' benefit packages have stayed the same. More ophthalmologists' benefits have gotten worse than have improved.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
As with most other specialties, self-employed ophthalmologists earn more than those who are employed. Income for both groups has been rising in general. Self-employed physicians tend to be older as a group than employed physicians and so have had more time to build up their practices, which may contribute to their higher income.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Solo and group ophthalmology practices lose about the same percentage of revenue to overhead, but in general, larger medical practices benefit from economies of scale, which lead to a lower overhead percentage.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Ophthalmology practices use PAs and NPs far less than do physicians overall, where 36% of practices use PAs and 50% of practices use NPs. The numbers of practicing PAs and NPs are projected to grow by 4.3% and 6.8%, respectively, from 2016 to 2030, while the number of physicians is projected to grow 1.1% in that timeframe.[1] (Note: Physicians were able to choose more than one response.)
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Our survey shows that 95% of ophthalmologists were either very satisfied or satisfied with their own job performance. "Doctors take great pride in what they do, even under difficult circumstances, and I would imagine that we all feel we do the best we can in spite of the challenges," says Carol Bernstein, MD, psychiatrist at NYU Langone Medical Center.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
The percentage of ophthalmologists in fee-for-service arrangements (56%) is similar to that of last year (53%). The percentage in ACOs (17%) is the same as that of last year.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Although Medicare reimbursement is lower than that of many private insurers, the majority of ophthalmologists are not planning to cut back on these patients. In 2016, over 56 million people were enrolled in the Medicare program—most because of their age, while the others were Medicare beneficiaries due to various disabilities.[2]
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Among all specialists, 37% expect to participate in MIPS (Merit-based Incentive Payment System) and 9% plan to participate in APMs (alternative payment models). Somewhat more primary care physicians expect to participate in MIPS (42%) and APMs (12%).
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Ophthalmologists' attitudes toward their compensation have improved since our 2014 report. At that time, 42% of ophthalmologists said that they were satisfied with their compensation.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
For 26% of ophthalmologists, difficulties getting fair reimbursement are the most challenging part of their job; 24% cited having so many rules and regulations as the top challenge. Physicians overall (26%) said rules and regulations pose the biggest challenge.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Physicians overall (29%) found gratitude from and relationships with patients to be the most rewarding part of their jobs. An even greater percentage of ophthalmologists cited that as the most rewarding factor.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
The large majority of ophthalmologists—and 77% of all physicians—would choose to go into medicine again as a career, if they had to make the choice.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Of the physicians who said they would choose medicine again, 79% said they would choose the same specialty. Ninety-six percent of ophthalmologists—the highest percentage of all specialists—noted that they would remain in their chosen specialty.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
According to American Medical Association data,[3] the single-specialty group is the most common practice type, with 42.8% of physicians working in these settings in 2016. The multispecialty group is the second most popular form of practice setting, comprising 24.6% of physicians. Among ophthalmologists, solo practices are another common worksite.
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
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Medscape Ophthalmologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Almost 20,000 physicians in over 30 specialties told us how much they earn, whether they are satisfied with their jobs, and whether their income has gone up or down.Medscape Features Slideshows, April 2019
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Comments on Medscape are moderated and should be professional in tone and on topic. You must declare any conflicts of interest related to your comments and responses. Please see our Commenting Guide for further information. We reserve the right to remove posts at our sole discretion.
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Leslie Kane, MA
Senior Director
Medscape Business of Medicine
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References
Auerbach DI, Staiger DO, Buerhaus PI. [Table: Historical and Projected Numbers of Physicians, Nurse Practitioners, and Physician Assistants] Growing ranks of advanced practice clinicians – implications for the physician workforce. NEJM Catalyst. August 2018. Source
Murphy B. For first time, physician practice owners are not the majority. May 31, 2017. American Medical Association. Source
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