Please confirm that you would like to log out of Medscape.
If you log out, you will be required to enter your username and password the next time you visit.
Log outCancel
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019
| Contributor Information
Swipe to advance
1 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 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. Rheumatologists 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.)
2 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 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.
Rheumatologists are below the middle earners of all physician specialties. Rheumatologist income is about the same as last year's average income of $257,000. 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.
3 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 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. Rheumatologists appear to have about the same burden as other physicians; 77% were saddled with 10 or more hours per week of paperwork and administrative chores.
4 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
About two thirds of rheumatologists' benefit packages have stayed the same. More rheumatologists' benefits have gotten worse than have improved.
5 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
Group rheumatology practices lose a greater percentage of revenue to overhead than do solo practices, but in general, larger medical practices benefit from economies of scale, which lead to a lower overhead percentage.
6 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
Rheumatology practices use PAs and NPs 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.)
7 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
Our survey shows that 91% of rheumatologists 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.
8 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
The percentage of rheumatologists in fee-for-service arrangements (37%) is greater than that of last year (24%). The percentage in ACOs (30%) increased compared with last year (25%).
9 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
Rheumatologists' attitudes toward their compensation have varied little since our 2014 report. At that time, 46% of rheumatologists said that they were satisfied with their compensation.
10 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
For rheumatologists (27%), as for physicians overall (26%), having so many rules and regulations is the most challenging part of their job. Rheumatologists found working with the EHR more challenging than did physicians overall (15%).
11 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 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 rheumatologists cited that as the most rewarding factor.
12 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
Our survey shows that 77% of rheumatologists—and the same percentage of physicians overall—would choose to go into medicine again as a career, if they had to make the choice.
13 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
Of the physicians who said they would choose medicine again, 79% said they would choose the same specialty. In contrast, only 71% of rheumatologists noted that they would remain in their chosen specialty.
14 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
According to American Medical Association data,[2] 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.
15 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
16 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 2019 | Contributor Information
17 of 18
Scroll
Medscape Rheumatologist Compensation Report 2019
Leslie Kane, MA | April 24, 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
Commenting is limited to medical professionals. To comment please Log-in.
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.
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.
Close
Contributor Information
Leslie Kane, MA
Senior Director
Medscape Business of Medicine
Close
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
Close
Image Zoom
Close
Feedback
Please do not use this form to submit personal or patient medical information or to report adverse drug events. You are encouraged to report adverse drug event information to the FDA.
Comments