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A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023
| Contributor Information
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A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
The good news for female physicians in the United States was that their average compensation rose about 6.4% last year to $300,000, incentive bonuses also climbed for those women who qualified, and the gender gaps vs male counterparts on both narrowed. The bad news was that those gender gaps remained substantial. Medscape surveyed female physicians in detail in late 2022 about their compensation for that calendar year.
In this report, gender is based on how physicians self-identified in our survey.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
In 2022, male doctors earned nearly 29% more on average than did their female counterparts, compared with gender gaps of 32% and 34%, respectively, in 2021 and 2020.
The gender gap in US physician compensation exceeded the 24% shortfall for all female healthcare workers worldwide as reported by the World Health Organization.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
There appears to be some progress in the pay gap between male and female primary care physicians (PCPs). For the prior few years, male PCPs earned about 25% more than did their female counterparts. In 2022, men earned about 19% more than did women: It was still a significant disparity but was the lowest gap in 5 years.
"Due to efforts by many, some institutions and healthcare organizations have reviewed their salary lines and recognized the discrepancies, not only between the sexes but also between those new hires, which can be offered significantly more than those more senior physicians who have been working there for years and hired under a different pay structure," says Theresa Rohr-Kirchgraber, MD, president of the American Medical Women's Association and professor of medicine at AU/UGA Medical Partnership, Athens, Georgia.
"Bringing transparency to salary lines helps to improve the pay disparity."
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
Male specialists earned 27% more on average last year than did their female counterparts vs 31% in 2021 and 33% in 2020.
"There are more women going to medical school and more women before us who have become powerhouses in some of the male-dominated specialties," Rohr-Kirchgraber notes. "When women see these role models, it's easier to imagine ourselves in those positions and those specialties."
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
Gender pay gaps by age group were similar to the prior 2 years and ranged from 26% to 36%.
Among doctors aged 35 years or younger, the gender compensation differential narrowed to 26% from 43% in 2020
A 2021 study of more than 80,000 physicians estimated a cumulative impact of gender pay gaps totaling around $2 million over a 40-year career, with the worst damage early in their careers. So if the pay shortfall narrows among doctors aged 35 years or younger, then that cumulative impact could diminish going forward.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
In our 2021 report, female doctor pay in healthcare organizations was sixth on this list.
A recent American Medical Association study found the share of US physicians in workplaces at least partially owned by a hospital or health system increased by nearly eight percentage points between 2012 and 2022.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
"Production bonuses remain a key motivator for physicians in most practice settings, often allowing them to earn considerably more than the base salary offer," says Cody Futch, VP of recruiting for AMN Healthcare's Physician Solutions division. Relative value units (RVUs) remain the most common metric, he notes, with net collections and patient volume included in some bonus structures.
"The use of value-based metrics such as patient satisfaction scores or adherence to treatment protocols declined last year in the search engagements we conducted," Futch adds. "Measuring quality is difficult and can be a point of contention between physicians and employers, while measuring volume is a more straightforward pro."
In addition, "Some employers do not offer production bonuses in the first year, often due to higher salaries being offered as opposed to previous years," Futch says.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
In 2022, male PCPs who qualified for an incentive bonus received 27% more on average than did their female counterparts vs 64% more in 2021. Bonuses were 67% bigger on average for male specialists vs 92% in 2021.
Futch thinks that the gender gap may be narrowing because "women may be gravitating more toward higher-paying specialties, increasing the number of hours worked or patients seen, and [taking] a more aggressive posture during contract negotiations."
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
On average, compensation was not significantly different in 2022 for female doctors in self-employment (meaning, they were owners of or partners in a practice) vs those who were employees. Still, this came amid a general shift away from self-employment for physicians.
Self-employed respondents offered a variety of views on compensation in Medscape's survey. "I'm relatively happy in my own practice," said a California plastic surgeon. "I would not have been as financially secure in an employed practice."
"My net worth could be higher if I had been employed instead of solo physician," shared a family practitioner in Illinois, "but I prefer the lifestyle this allows me to have — setting my own hours and spending more time with family."
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
In 2022, the states with the highest average compensation for all doctors male and female were Wisconsin, Indiana, Georgia, and Connecticut. But looking at female physicians only, those in Pacific Coast states like California, Oregon, and Hawaii were paid high salaries.
The approximate $20,000 gap in average compensation between the highest- and lowest-paying regions for female physicians was only about one fourth of that for all doctors.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
The average 36 hours per week that female doctors reported spending with patients has stabilized over the past 3 years and was around the same as for male physicians.
When physicians get the flexibility to offer them, longer patient visits generally are associated with higher rates of screening and counseling as well as better patient outcomes and satisfaction and lower rates of doctor burnout.
"I've caught serious issues that my primary care colleagues missed, such as thyroid disorders, due to the amount of time I spend with my patients and the depths of discussions," a Pennsylvania endocrinologist said.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
In 2020, 54% of female physicians told Medscape that they felt fairly compensated.
Even some survey respondents who felt fairly paid noted they'd accepted trade-offs. "I choose this job and plan to stay for reasons of work-life balance," said a California pediatrician in a low-paying public health position.
Some of those who felt unfairly compensated saw little cause for optimism.
"I don't know what the number would be to make me feel fairly compensated for the hours I work and the endless stress of caring for patients in a job where there are essentially no breaks," said an internal medicine physician in Colorado.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
There were some slight increases in the shares of female physicians in the higher-paying specialties. For example, in 2021, female physicians accounted for 8% of urologists and 16% of plastic surgeons. Still, primary care had the largest share of female physicians last year.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
Though there's a distinct advantage for male doctors in accumulating at least $2 million in net worth, the presence of women in that category has been growing and jumped about 15% over the course of 2021.
One reason could be a generational transfer of wealth, says Joel Greenwald, MD, CFP, a wealth advisor at Pine Grove Financial Group in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. "I've had a number of clients who received an inheritance in the last year as their second parent passed away, and that can lead to a significant jump in net worth for the inheritor."
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
The leading generators of debt for female doctors, including mortgages, car loans, and school loans, were similar to those in previous years. Today's average medical school loan debt is just over $202,000. Among medical school graduates, 73% now leave with debt totaling about $251,000.
"My school loan is more than my mortgage and car payment," a pediatrician lamented.
"There is no way to make it work on a primary care salary," another physician said of her school debt burden. "It's either specialty medicine or debt for the rest of your life."
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
As in years past, most female physicians, like physicians in general regardless of gender, told Medscape they that live within or below their means.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
In 2020, 45% of female doctors told Medscape that they were not affected by employer belt-tightening efforts.
This year's results seem to reflect the US healthcare system's return to a pre-pandemic level of activity and function, according to Tyler Stafford, CFA, CEO and co-founder of Panacea Financial.
In 2021, "physicians were still suffering specialty-dependent, periodic shutdowns in their ability to practice due to spikes," he recalls. After being supported through the pandemic by federal and state injections of financing, he says, many health systems are "now getting back to their regular revenue cycles."
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
The share of female doctors who reported investment or stock market losses was up from 6% in our 2022 report. That's in line with the 36% of all physicians who told Medscape they suffered investment or stock losses in 2022.
"Both stocks and bonds did terribly in 2022," Greenwald notes. "Even someone with a balanced portfolio got hit."
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
As in last year's report, nearly two thirds of respondents in the Medscape survey said that they did not take on extra work to supplement their incomes. As for some female physicians who did:
"I supplement my income as an emergency physician independent contractor," an emergency medicine doctor in California said.
A critical care physician in Wisconsin shared that she supplemented her income by "giving several thousand compensated lectures and visiting professorships during the first 35 years of my career."
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
The 70% of female respondents who said their workplaces use nurse practitioners (NPs) or physician assistants (PAs), or both, compared with 66% a year earlier and 62% in 2020.
Respondents gave them mixed reviews.
"I employ PAs and NPs and as a result, my income has increased," said a psychiatrist in Michigan.
"A minority of PAs are amazing and underpaid," another physician noted.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
Female physicians more often than their male counterparts (22%) identified patient relationships as their biggest benefit. Men (32%) pointed to being good at their job more often than did women.
"I've always found patient care profoundly rewarding," said an ob/gyn in Maryland, adding that "the 'being good' answer is part of what makes (patients) express gratitude and our relationship meaningful."
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
COVID risk continues to trend lower as a job challenge among female physicians. Still, some respondents mentioned lingering challenges that related to the pandemic.
"Since COVID, we've gone from having too much staff because of lockdowns to trouble hiring staff due to labor shortages," one physician said.
Another doctor found that the "increased anger and disrespect towards healthcare workers and a population in declining health since COVID" continue to be major challenges.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
Seventy percent or more of female physicians in at least 14 specialties said they would choose medicine again when starting their careers, vs 18 specialties in our 2022 report.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
By comparison, in our 2022 report, support for their specialty was 100% of respondents in three specialties, and at least 85% of female physicians in 16 specialties told us they'd choose the same specialty again if they had the choice.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
The average mortgage balance for a female doctor was about $253,000. A slightly smaller share of female physicians had paid off their mortgages than had their male counterparts. Otherwise, the percentages in this chart were similar for women and men.
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
A Good Year for Paychecks: Medscape Female Physician Compensation Report 2023
Hope Winsborough | October 23, 2023 | Contributor Information
Sometimes Optimistic, Sometimes Struggling: Medscape Residents Lifestyle & Happiness Report 2023
Medical residents reveal their biggest rewards and challenges of residency, describe efforts for work-life balance and a social life, and discuss whether the quality of residency is improving.Medscape Features Slideshows, Oct 2023
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