Nurse practitioners and physician assistants netted a 6.47% increase in total compensation, however, physicians still earn far more in comparison
by Intelliworx
Compensation is always a top priority in recruiting and retention – and salaries continue to grow in healthcare. MGMA illustrates this in its most recent compensation report:
“Median total compensation for physicians in primary care, surgical specialties and nonsurgical specialties saw modest increases in 2023, as well as total compensation for APPs.”
APPs, or advanced practice providers, which includes nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) saw the biggest jump according to the association:
“For APPs, total median compensation outpaced the gains seen for physicians, with a 6.47% increase in 2023, contributing to a 16.23% gain since pre-pandemic 2019 levels.”
Among just physicians, and excluding APPs, those fulfilling primary care roles saw a larger bump in pay:
“The largest gains in total median compensation were for primary care physicians (4.44%) and surgical specialists (4.42%), with nonsurgical specialist physicians seeing only a 1.81% bump in 2023.”
In terms of real numbers, median compensation in 2023, the most recent data MGMA has available, breaks out this way:
- Primary care physicians earned a little more than $300,000;
- Surgical specialist physicians earned about $550,000;
- Nonsurgical specialist physicians earned about $420,000; and
- APPs earned a little more than $120,000.
It’s worth pointing out, a talent shortage among providers has persisted for years. Burnout is rampant and providers are continuously asked to do more with less. Even so, provider productivity has skyrocketed over the last 10 years or so as healthcare has invested in enabling technologies.
The full report contains many more interesting findings. A copy of the report, titled “Provider Pay and the Dawn of a New Era of Productivity,” is freely available for download with registration on the MGMA website.
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Image credits: Cited report by MGMA
