Future of outpatient peds compensation?

[SpanishMusical]

Hi all,

Strongly considering peds (by far the happiest I have been in medical school), but the compensation aspect has left me a little unsure. First off, I know that 180k puts me in the top 5 or so percent of earners in the US, so please do not take this as complaining.

I recently looked at the Resolve site to get an idea of gen peds salaries, and found that the average general pediatrician makes ~180k (correct me if I'm wrong here). While that would work well now, it concerns me that CMS cuts continue to occur (although I am unsure if these cuts are also occurring in pediatrics and primary care specifically), especially with inflation continuing to increase. I would like to live somewhere in New England since I have a lot of family out there (once I'm married with kids, it does not have to be a super expensive city or suburb, so long as the place is safe and the schools are OK), and would like to be able to do one or two international trips a year to visit family. It would be great if I could be the only earner in case my wife would rather stay at home, but I understand that may not be possible.

I guess my questions are:
1. Given that pediatric reimbursement is set by government entities (as opposed to the market), will general pediatrician salaries keep up with inflation?
2. If not, is there a path in pediatrics that allows for higher pay and is more inflation-proof (e.g., PICU, peds cards)?
3. What offers for gen peds jobs (including days worked/wk and location) are people seeing? How does salary change throughout a general pediatrician's career?

Would just be nice if our work was as valued as our adult colleagues'...

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[SurfingDoctor]

Hi all,

Strongly considering peds (by far the happiest I have been in medical school), but the compensation aspect has left me a little unsure. First off, I know that 180k puts me in the top 5 or so percent of earners in the US, so please do not take this as complaining.

I recently looked at the Resolve site to get an idea of gen peds salaries, and found that the average general pediatrician makes ~180k (correct me if I'm wrong here). While that would work well now, it concerns me that CMS cuts continue to occur (although I am unsure if these cuts are also occurring in pediatrics and primary care specifically), especially with inflation continuing to increase. I would like to live somewhere in New England since I have a lot of family out there (once I'm married with kids, it does not have to be a super expensive city or suburb, so long as the place is safe and the schools are OK), and would like to be able to do one or two international trips a year to visit family. It would be great if I could be the only earner in case my wife would rather stay at home, but I understand that may not be possible.

I guess my questions are:
1. Given that pediatric reimbursement is set by government entities (as opposed to the market), will general pediatrician salaries keep up with inflation?
2. If not, is there a path in pediatrics that allows for higher pay and is more inflation-proof (e.g., PICU, peds cards)?
3. What offers for gen peds jobs (including days worked/wk and location) are people seeing? How does salary change throughout a general pediatrician's career?

Would just be nice if our work was as valued as our adult colleagues'...

Why are you talking about inflation like its some fixed value?

Also why do you think any job is protected from inflation?

Value is relative. Do you mean reimbursed? That's because of billing codes and patient complexity. When gramps is approaching 80, every single organ he has is trying to tap out and you can bill more.

You chance of ending up in rural NE with a comfortable salary with your other presumptions about family is a lot more likely with general pediatrics than it is with subspecialty training.