Medscape Physician Compensation survey 2012

[235009]

Looks like Gen Surg saw the biggest decline and Ophtho saw the biggest gain in salary.

Lifestyle specialties Radiology, EM, and Anesthesia which are becoming very popular nowadays are also facing declining reimbursement (10%, 8% and 5% respectively)

For the report go to: http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2012/public

For specialty-specific reports go to: http://www.medscape.com/sites/public/physician-comp/2012

(you might need to sign in to get to one or both, signing up is free though)

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[projectlogic]

"If you had to do it all over again, would you..

54% would choose medicine as a career.

Physician frustration is growing. The 2012 survey showed far more dissatisfaction among doctors across all specialties. In 2012, just over one half of all physicians (54%) would choose medicine again as a career, far less than in the prior year (69%)."


"More than 3200 physicians commented on different aspects of Medscape's survey. Their remarks illuminated the frustrations in the profession.
"My income is 60% of what it was 10 years ago, and I'm doing more work."
"I feel fairly compensated, but I am a little jealous of the vast difference between my salary as a primary care physician and what my specialist counterparts are earning."
"The regulatory environment and the onerous paperwork involved are making the current situation untenable."
"I love being a physician, but I hate what is happening to medicine. Too many people are coming between me and the care I provide to my patients.""

 

[2gunornot2gun]

anyone want to take a swing at explaining why those specialties are declining in compensation?

 

[FTFY]

anyone want to take a swing at explaining why those specialties are declining in compensation?

Isn't it the standard reasons?

Declining reimbursments from insurance, increased overhead, increased expenses, inflation, etc.

 

[JackShephard MD]

Looks like Gen Surg saw the biggest decline and Ophtho saw the biggest gain in salary.

Lifestyle specialties Radiology, EM, and Anesthesia which are becoming very popular nowadays are also facing declining reimbursement (10%, 8% and 5% respectively)

For the report go to: http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2012/public

For specialty-specific reports go to: http://www.medscape.com/sites/public/physician-comp/2012

(you might need to sign in to get to one or both, signing up is free though)

It's interesting, it seems like they will try to increase all the low paying specialties, and decrease the higher ones, letting everyone meet in the middle. Yet, it will be hard to convince someone to do trauma surgery for the same salary as a pediatrician.

I found this interesting (2011-top vs. 2012-bottom):

It's almost like the same phenomenon is happening with satisfaction, those who were really satisfied are coming to the middle and those at the middle of the pack stayed the same.

One of the more interesting facts: Plastic Surgery, arguably the most competitive specialty, had the lowest overall satisfaction and the lowest % who would chose medicine again, 41% and 35% respectively.

 

[Green Grass]

I don't know what to make of this - so few physicians actually responded to the survey. Seems to me that the dissatisfied would be more likely to respond than the happy.

 

[CatFactorial]

These surveys get way too much attention.

 

[KinasePro]

Seems to me that the dissatisfied would be more likely to respond than the happy.

Definitely. This is response bias at it's finest.

 

[235009]

I don't know what to make of this - so few physicians actually responded to the survey. Seems to me that the dissatisfied would be more likely to respond than the happy.

yea, i wouldn't put too much stock into the subjective stuff, that's why i chose to focus on the more objective measures in the survey such as salary

 

[Green Grass]

yea, i wouldn't put too much stock into the subjective stuff, that's why i chose to focus on the more objective measures in the survey such as salary

Again, aren't the physicians responding the ones who are reporting their salaries?

 

[Bojack Horseman]

did this rub anyone else the wrong way?

Just less than one third (29%) of all physicians see 50-99 patients per week. In the 2011 survey, about 40% of doctors saw that many patients per week. About 23% of physicians see 100-174 patients per week. Radiologists have the most patient visits: One in 5 sees more than 200 patients per week.

lolwut?

Self-reported statistics, obviously... because who in their right mind would consider looking at a picture the equivalent of seeing a patient*?

When a pathologist looks at a slide is that considered seeing a patient? How about autopsies?

*disclaimer: I think this is a ******ed representation of a statistic, I'm not trying to diss any radiologists.

 

[235009]

Again, aren't the physicians responding the ones who are reporting their salaries?

yes but its still more objective than "are you happy?" i guess you're suggesting that the less satisfied physicians are making less money but they're comparing the salaries to the previous year's survey so if there is a systematic error as you suggest it would be the same in both surveys

 

[JackShephard MD]

I guess I'd rather know if physicians were satisfied with their careers than if their pay changed +/- 5%.

 

[Slack3r]

I guess I'd rather know if physicians were satisfied with their careers than if their pay changed +/- 5%.

I wouldn't. With the amount of whiny, entitled children in medical school (many of whom have never held a real job) I take physician satisfaction with the whole salt shaker.

 

[235009]

I wouldn't. With the amount of whiny, entitled children in medical school (many of whom have never held a real job) I take physician satisfaction with the whole salt shaker.

 

[JackShephard MD]

I wouldn't. With the amount of whiny, entitled children in medical school (many of whom have never held a real job) I take physician satisfaction with the whole salt shaker.

Well, in that case, I guess the whole survey is pretty worthless.

 

[Frazier]

Entertaining:

"Do you consider yourself to be rich?"

Highest positive response: Pathology [15%]
Lowest positive response: Plastics [6%]

Plastic's patient base leading to lifestyle-envy?

 

[Frazier]

Also it would have been interesting to see the satisfaction comparison between the 9 different age brackets...

 

[cowme]

did this rub anyone else the wrong way?

lolwut?

Self-reported statistics, obviously... because who in their right mind would consider looking at a picture the equivalent of seeing a patient*?

When a pathologist looks at a slide is that considered seeing a patient? How about autopsies?

*disclaimer: I think this is a ******ed representation of a statistic, I'm not trying to diss any radiologists.

Well...it's also kind of ridiculous to ask radiologists and pathologists how many patient visits they have per week.

 

[ManBroDude]

I wouldn't. With the amount of whiny, entitled children in medical school (many of whom have never held a real job) I take physician satisfaction with the whole salt shaker.

I want to see what the responses are like from the docs who held crappy jobs in undergrad and beyond to support themselves and worked their asses off to get to their ultimate goal.

 

[ncmd2005]

The numbers listed on this salary survery are more in line with academic/VA type jobs and are significantly lower than actual private practice salaries.
I am a private practice radiologist and you start at 300k and after 3 years the partners make 700k plus - and we are in a large metro area. I'm sure this is similar for many other specialities.

Bottom line - dont make any decisions on these stupid surveys. Honestly, its best for docs to underreport on these as it only draws unnecessary scrutiny from the public and ppl who want us to work for free.

 

[ckdgusdl88]

I second the opnion that the numbers seem low. More accurate numbers are in MGMA salary surveys, which arent free. If you go to www.enterprisemed.com, you will mostly see jobs with salary descriptions saying "MGMA." Occasionally, actual numbers are given by these ads - go check them out.

 

[IDBasco]

Honestly, its best for docs to underreport on these as it only draws unnecessary scrutiny from the public and ppl who want us to work for free.

So true.