Average pay for doctors dipped 2.4% in 2022, finds Doximity
The report also highlights the substantial gender pay gap among physicians, with men earning nearly $110,000 more than women.
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The average pay for doctors declined 2.4% in 2022, coming at a time when U.S. healthcare workers are facing significant challenges, including economic strains, a growing physician shortage and high rates of work-related burnout.
Doximity's annual Physician Compensation Report also added to the list of challenges a 2% Medicare payment cut for physicians after two decades of flat payments.
The report – which includes self-reported compensation data from over 190,000 U.S. doctors over six years and more than 31,000 full-time physicians in 2022 – also highlights the substantial gender pay gap among physicians, with men earning nearly $110,000 more than their women counterparts in 2022.
This represents a 26% gender pay gap, even when salaries were controlled for specialty, location and years of experience. This disparity may be contributing to an even higher burnout rate among women physicians, with nearly 92% of women physicians surveyed reporting overwork, compared to 83% of men.
WHAT'S THE IMPACT?
In 2021 there was an increase in compensation across all specialties. But in 2022, compensation was stagnant or down across many specialties, contributing to the overall decline observed across the industry.
Emergency medicine physicians reported the highest increase in compensation in 2022, a likely result of the continued demand for emergency healthcare services. Preventative medicine is the only specialty to appear on the list in 2021 and 2022, although at a much slower growth rate – 4% in 2022 compared to 12.6% in 2021.
The report also included an analysis of tens of thousands of job postings in 2022 to assess physician demand by metro area Tallahassee, Florida, and Springfield, Illinois, topped the list for both the highest number of physician job postings overall and the highest number of job postings for Locum Tenens physicians.
Notably, seven out of the top 10 metro areas with the highest number of physician job postings also appeared on the top 10 list for Locum Tenens physicians, suggesting a considerable need for physicians in these areas.
In 2022, the most recruited specialties on Doximity, indicating some of the highest in-demand specialties across the U.S., were in primary care. These findings are consistent with reports from the Association of American Medical Colleges, which projects a shortfall of between 17,800 and 48,000 primary care physicians by 2034.
Psychiatry also took two of the top five spots in 2022. According to the AAMC, the U.S. had too few psychiatrists even before the pandemic increased rates of anxiety and depression, and this shortage is expected to worsen. A study conducted before the pandemic found that more than half of U.S. counties had no local psychiatrists available, with heightened shortages in rural areas.
And then there's the burnout issue. In May 2022, the U.S. Surgeon General issued an advisory calling for an urgent need to address healthcare worker burnout, which has reached crisis levels, she said.
In a recent Doximity survey of over 2,000 U.S. physicians, more than 86% reported being overworked, with more than one-third considering early retirement. Overall, two-thirds (66.7%) of physician respondents reported they are considering an employment change. The growing physician shortage issue and aging population in the U.S. only add to the severity of the situation, the survey found.
THE LARGER TREND
Frenzied work conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to burnout among clinicians, found one 2022 study in JAMA Health Forum.
Analysts suggested that one means of addressing burnout and dissatisfaction would be to create a federal surveillance system that analyzed, in real time, levels of clinician and healthcare worker outcomes.
Twitter: @JELagasse
Email the writer: Jeff.Lagasse@himssmedia.com
