Primary care physicians see largest pay increase, averaging $300K in annual compensation
A report from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) shows primary care physicians received a pay increase last year, taking home an average salary of $300,000. The increase of 4.44% since 2022 is for primary care doctors at independent and hospital-owned practices alike.
Similarly, surgical specialists received a collective raise of 4.42%, with an average salary of $554,108, up from $530,649 in 2022.
Specialists who are not surgeons fared worse, seeing average compensation grow only 1.81% to an average of $432,983 in 2023.
The report is based on data from 211,000 physicians and advanced practice providers practicing nationwide. The increase in pay aligns with an increase in productivity for both independent and hospital-owned practices, MGMA said.
"Despite being faced with escalating overhead, declining physician reimbursement and a challenging labor market, medical groups pushed themselves to elevated levels of productivity in 2023, ensuring they could meet the increased demand for care in their communities," Halee Fischer-Wright, MD, president and CEO of MGMA, said in a statement. "As physician and other staffing shortages persist, medical group leaders should embrace the latest digital technologies to assist in optimizing operations, maintaining access to care and recognizing meaningful cost savings."
The report from MGMA seems to show healthcare practices and providers are beginning to recover from economic and staffing challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, during which patients were unable to regularly access services and delayed non-essential surgeries.
This is the fourth consecutive year of overall compensation gains for primary care and nonsurgical specialty physicians. Primary care and nonsurgical specialty physicians have managed to keep up with the 3.4% rise in the Consumer Price Index for last year, though “five-year changes in physician compensation across all specialty types—dating back to pre-pandemic benchmarks in 2019—lag the nearly 21% CPI surge in that same period,” MGMA said.
The full report from MGMA is available here.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.