Doximity Report: Physician Compensation Growth Not Keeping Pace With Inflation

The gender pay gap for physicians in 2021 was 28%, with male physicians earning on average about $122,000 more than their female counterparts, Doximity report says.

Average annual compensation for physicians increased 3.8% in 2021, according to a report prepared by Doximity, a digital platform for medical professionals.

Doximity has tracked physician compensation for five years, with data collected from more than 160,000 compensation surveys since 2017. This year's physician compensation report is based on more than 40,000 self-reported compensation surveys.

This year's 3.8% hike in physician compensation is a significant increase compared to last year's 1.5% increase, the Doximity report says. "It's possible this year’s increase reflects a catch-up from last year's relatively flat rate, a tight labor market, or a reflection of rising inflation rates in 2021," the report says.

Despite the growth reported in physician compensation, physician pay has not kept pace with inflation. As measured by the Consumer Price Index, the 2021 inflation rate was 6.2%, the report says.

The report is designed to provide critical information to healthcare industry stakeholders and individual physicians, the report says. "Our overarching goal is to track the data over a multi-year time-frame and help stakeholders understand employment trends taking shape in the healthcare space. We also hope sharing this data will provide individual doctors with information that can help them make important career decisions. As such, we track data at the metro area level, across medical specialties and different employment types."

The Doximity report features several key data points.

• The three specialties with the highest average annual compensation were neurosurgery ($773,201), thoracic surgery ($684,663), and orthopedic surgery ($633,620)
   
• The three specialties with the lowest average annual compensation were pediatric infectious disease ($210,844), pediatric rheumatology ($216,969), and pediatric endocrinology ($220,358)
   
• The three specialties with the largest increase in average annual compensation were preventative medicine (12.6%), hematology (12.2%), and nuclear medicine (10.4%)
   
• The metro areas with the highest average annual compensation for physicians were Charlotte, North Carolina, at $462,760, St. Louis, Missouri, at $452,219, and Buffalo, New York, at $426,440
   
• The metro areas with the lowest average annual compensation for physicians were Baltimore, Maryland, at $330,917, Providence, Rhode Island, at 346,092, and San Antonio, Texas, at $355,439
   
• The metro areas with the highest compensation growth rates were Charlotte, North Carolina, at 12.9%, Virginia Beach, Virginia, at 12.1%, and St. Louis, Missouri, at 10.5%
   
• The gender pay gap for physicians in 2021 was 28%, with male physicians earning on average about $122,000 more than their female counterparts
   
• The metro areas with highest compensation for female physicians were Minneapolis, Minnesota, at $347,426, Sacramento, California, at $341,107, and Tampa, Florida, at $339,505
   
• The metro areas with the lowest compensation for female physicians were Baltimore, Maryland, at $262,109, Louisville, Kentucky, at $276,509, and Memphis, Tennessee, at $246,531
   
• The nurse practitioner gender pay gap was 9.6%, with male nurse practitioners earning on average $12,292 more than their female counterparts
   
• The physician assistant gender pay gap was 11.0%, with male physician assistants earning on average $14,646 more than their female counterparts
   
• The three specialties with the largest increase in average annual compensation were preventative medicine (12.6%), hematology (12.2%), and nuclear medicine (10.4%)
   
• The top three annual average compensation practice settings were single specialty group ($442,024), multi-specialty group ($424,312), and solo practice ($415,678)