A Deeper Dive: Does Money Make Them Happy? The American Physician's Frustration The Medscape 2014 Physician Compensation Report is based on an extensive survey of more than 24,000 US physicians representing 25 specialties. Although healthcare is undergoing many challenges, the report shows some encouraging trends: Compensation increases were reported in 19 specialties, and the income gap between men and women is narrowing. Among other key professional issues, physicians' responses this year reveal their views on health insurance exchanges; their satisfaction with medicine, their specialty, and practice setting; and how much time they spend with patients and on paperwork. Does Money Bring Happiness? High and Low Earners As in past Medscape compensation surveys, those who perform procedures have the highest incomes compared with those who manage chronic illnesses. At the top of the earnings list are orthopedists ($413,000), cardiologists ($351,000), urologists ($348,000), gastroenterologists ($348,000), and radiologists ($340,000). Radiologists have moved down a bit compared with our earlier surveys, and anesthesiologists have been knocked out of their previous spot among the top five. The lowest earners are physicians in HIV/ID ($174,000), with primary care physicians and endocrinologists also in the bottom five (family physicians at $176,000, pediatricians $181,000, endocrinologists $184,000, and internists $188,000). In general, the Medscape survey findings are supported by government reports and other surveys.[1] A 2013 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) report to Congress provided findings from a government study showing that certain procedural groups and radiologists had calculated annual earnings that were more than twice those for the primary care groups.[2] Who's Satisfied With Their Compensation? Whether a physician is in the high or low earnings group does not necessarily correlate with compensation satisfaction or even with whether a physician would choose medicine as a career again. Satisfaction with compensation has not changed much in the past 4 years. In 2013, 50% of all physicians said they feel fairly compensated; 48% of primary care physicians feel fairly compensated. These figures are extremely close to the 2011 report percentages, in which 48% of all physicians say they feel fairly compensated, and 51% of primary care physicians said they feel that way. When looking at specialties, dermatologists, at 64%, were the most satisfied with their compensation and they were also among the top 10 earners. The amount of compensation, however, does not necessarily correlate with how fairly a physician believes he or she is paid. Other specialties that were high on the list of feeling fairly compensated were in the middle of or below on the earnings list: emergency medicine (61%), pathology (59%), and psychiatry (59%). Internists and family physicians were also low earners, but at 46% and 50%, respectively, they were in the middle or toward the top of the list of those who felt fairly compensated. On the other hand, 3 specialist groups at the top of the earnings list are in the bottom half of those who feel fairly compensated (44% of orthopedists and cardiologists and 41% of urologists). Plastic surgeons, who are among the top 7 earners are the least satisfied (37%) with their compensation of all physicians. Source
