Demand—and pay—keep growing for nurse practitioners, physician assistants
Advanced practice providers have enjoyed a raise in total cash compensation of 16% over the last five years.
That’s a sharper upward pay trajectory than physicians or nurses have seen over that period, according to the healthcare business consultancy SullivanCotter of Chicago.
In a survey report on APP compensation released Nov. 15, the firm says the pay growth has been consistent across all specialties.
The most common jobs in the APP category are nurse practitioner and physician assistant.
The survey includes information from 816 organizations representing more than 124,000 individual APPs and more than 3,400 APP leaders, SullivanCotter says.
Compared with 2022’s year-over-year data on the same healthcare workforce segment, which showed higher-than-normal growth in primary care and hospital-based specialties, SullivanCotter’s 2023 findings show primary care, medical and surgical specialties setting the pace at 5% each. Hospital-based APPs have seen their pay rise by a more modest 2.5% over the past year.
Looking at the three-year period 2020 to 2023, SullivanCotter finds “a continuing market demand” for all APPs.
During that window, median total cash compensation—typically base salaries plus annual performance bonuses—rose 13.0% for primary care APPs, 10.2% for medical, 9.4% for surgical, and 10.9% for hospital-based specialties from 2020 to 2023, the company reports.
Other findings of interest from the 2023 APP report:
- Consistent with the past several years, the demand for anesthesiology providers remains high, which continues to put upward pressure on compensation.
- Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) saw a 9.6% increase in median total cash compensation in 2023.
- In looking at the 3-year trends for CRNAs, median total cash compensation rose 15.6% from 2020-2023, and median hourly rates increased from $89.62 in 2020 to $102.91 in 2023.
CRNAs top all APPs in annual pay, with median total cash compensation of $218,000, according to a review of SullivanCotter data by Becker’s Hospital Review.
“In addition to steady pay increases, the 2023 survey indicated that APP compensation is evolving, often including the introduction and refinement of incentive compensation models, particularly in primary care,” the SullivanCotter report authors write, noting that 48% of organizations use incentive pay for at least some of their APPs, with 75.9% of these organizations structuring incentives as add-on dollars. “APP compensation models are also becoming more consistent within systems, which will help minimize internal turnover for these clinicians.”
To this Zachary Hartsell, SullivanCotter’s APP practice leader, adds:
“The anesthesiology care team continues to see unprecedented changes as the shortage of physicians and CRNAs grows, yet the need for their services continues to increase at an unprecedented pace. As competition for CRNA talent increases, we are seeing organizations adjust CRNA compensation packages such as including sign-on and retention bonuses, student loan repayments, and adjustments to work effort expectations, roles and responsibilities. They are also looking at increasing salaries to stay competitive.”
An infographic summarizing key findings is here. The full report is available for purchase here.
Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.