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Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019
| Contributor Information
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Medscape Pediatrician 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. Pediatricians 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 Pediatrician 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.
Pediatricians are among the lowest earners of all physician specialties. Pediatrician income is up from last year's average income of $212,000. 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 Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Male pediatricians earn 25% more than women. The gender gap in pediatrician salary is consistent with that of physicians overall, where men earn 25% more than women. According to responses to Medscape's physician compensation survey, about 40% of pediatricians are men.
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Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Male pediatricians spent 6% more time seeing patients than did their female peers. This may be one of the factors contributing to the gender pay disparity. Physicians have also noted that gender discrimination is a likely factor.
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Medscape Pediatrician 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. Pediatricians appear to have burdens similar to that of other physicians; 70% were saddled with 10 or more hours per week of paperwork and administrative chores.
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Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Men and women reported spending the same amount of time on paperwork and administrative chores.
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Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Caucasian/white pediatricians earned about the same as did Asian pediatricians. (There were too few pediatrician respondents from other races/ethnic groups to include them in this chart.)
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Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Two thirds of pediatricians' benefit packages have stayed the same. More pediatricians' benefits have gotten worse than have improved.
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Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
As with most other specialties, self-employed pediatricians 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 Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
In general, larger medical practices benefit from economies of scale, which lead to a lower overhead percentage.
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Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Pediatric practices use PAs (23%) less and NPs (59%) more than do physicians overall (36% and 50%, respectively). 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 Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Our survey shows that 93% of pediatricians 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 Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
The percentage of pediatricians in fee-for-service arrangements (41%) is about the same as that of last year (37%). The percentage in ACOs (27%) is also about the same as that of last year (29%).
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Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Although Medicare reimbursement is lower than that of many private insurers, the large majority of pediatricians 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 Pediatrician 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 Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Pediatricians' attitudes toward their compensation are unchanged since our 2014 report. Then and now, 54% of pediatricians said that they were satisfied with their compensation.
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Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
For pediatricians (19%), as for physicians overall (26%), having so many rules and regulations is the most challenging part of their job. Pediatricians found dealing with difficult patients, working long hours, and having to work with the EHR about as challenging as did physicians overall (14%, 15%, and 14%, respectively).
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Medscape Pediatrician 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 pediatricians cited that as the most rewarding factor.
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Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
Our survey shows that 77% of pediatricians— the same percentage as physicians overall—would choose to go into medicine again as a career, if they had to make the choice.
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Medscape Pediatrician 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. A similar percentage of pediatricians noted that they would remain in their chosen specialty.
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Medscape Pediatrician 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 pediatricians, hospitals are another common worksite.
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Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
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Medscape Pediatrician Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 29, 2019 | Contributor Information
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Medscape Pediatrician 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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