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Beth Kutscher 
Beth Kutscher
Editor at Large at LinkedIn News
Published Aug 7, 2023
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Despite the discontent in medicine these days, doctors are still making money — and lots of it. The U.S. physician shortage has kept salaries higher than in peer countries, The Washington Post reports. U.S. physicians earn an average of $350,000 annually, and as high as $405,000 during their peak earning years of 40 to 55, the National Bureau of Economic Research found, citing data from 2005 to 2017. Doctors on LinkedIn criticized the report for not addressing the structural reasons for the physician shortage.
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Benjamin Schwartz, MD, MBA
Benjamin Schwartz, MD, MBA is an Influencer
Orthopedic Surgeon | Health Tech
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Economists, the NYT, and the WaPo enjoy poking at physicians with provocative stories of doctors' salaries, relationships with industry, and perverse FFS incentives. Rarely are these pieces flattering. Often, they further inflame anger at the American healthcare system (specifically towards docs). When these studies/stories emerge, docs come out in droves to go on the defensive. There is occasionally in-fighting, particularly the PCP v. "proceduralist" compensation debate (as if value is a zero-sum game). The reaction is understandable -- docs lack a unified voice and coordinated PR teams.A few days ago, an economist analysis of doctors' income was published in the Washington Post. The original headline was: "How Much Money Do Doctors Make and Why Is It Such a Lot?" -- which seems to have been changed to the slightly less inflammatory: "The average doctor in the U.S. makes $350,000 a year. Why?"No one should feel guilty about being rewarded for hard work, sacrifice, and years spent learning a craft (at significant opportunity cost). Even less so if the work is done with a strong moral compass and sense of ethics (If it isn't, you're probably not going to feel guilty anyway -- medicine has its fair share of bad actors like every other industry). Like the system or not, doctors generate a tremendous amount of value in American healthcare. More and more, that value is being co-opted. Devaluation is driving burnout and causing many doctors to consider leaving medicine altogether. The headline could have just as easily read: "How Much Money Do Doctors Make and Why Isn't It Enough to Keep Them from Walking Away?" There's no need to fall into the trap and rehash the same flawed arguments that always permeate these articles. The real shame is that these stories continue to erode trust between doctors and patients and contribute to division within the profession -- not coincidentally at a time when healthcare workers face amongst the highest rates of workplace violence.There seems to be a growing sentiment that doctors are a replaceable part of the problem. I suppose we might find out if that's true. In the meantime, let others talk the talk -- we'll walk the walk.Don't feed the trolls.#medicine #healthcare #doctors #value #worth #physicians
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Anna Fleck
Data Journalist @ Statista
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Health care professionals are extremely well paid in the United States and dominate the country's highest-salaried jobs. According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, cardiologists are the highest earners overall, with annual mean wages of $421,330 as of 2022. The following chart found at https://lnkd.in/edMw7s64 shows that orthopedic surgeons follow with $371,400 while pediatric surgeons round off the top three. They earn an impressive annual mean wage of $362,970. Out of America's top 10 highest-paid professions, only athletes and sports competitors can compete with the #healthcare sector. The highest annual mean wage of an athlete or sports competitor in the United States is $358,080.
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Sujith Krishnan, MD
Digital Healthcare Futurist | Start-Up Founder & CEO | Women’s Health Advocate
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Analysis | The average doctor in the U.S. makes $350,000 a year. Why? washingtonpost.comThis Number sounds big. But do the math.. 1 m working Physicians in the US making an average of $350k per year adds up to roughly $350B which is just 8% of the total $4.3 T spent on Healthcare last year in the United States. Count the other 9 m staff working in Clinical services in the US, making about $45k per year, adds another 9% to the total spend. So the labor cost of the core clinical services employees only adds up to 17% of the total spend. This number is usually 33 % to 40% in other labor intensive service areas.
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Tyler Cymet, DO, FACP, FACOFP, FFSMB
Physician Administrator
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Analysis | The average doctor in the U.S. makes $350,000 a year. Why? washingtonpost.comData is part of the story. Primary Care and Specialties seem to occupy different financial universes. https://lnkd.in/dkvmrY4F
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Callie Keeney
Helping my clients get positions FILLED, patients SEEN and revenue FLOWING. ✨
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Analysis | The average doctor in the U.S. makes $350,000 a year. Why? washingtonpost.com✨ Where have all the doctors gone? ✨ It's harder now to recruit physicians than ever before. This is a great article that provides a little insight into how we've gotten here...https://lnkd.in/gFmsrzEt
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Christina Mencuccini, MBA MHA
Strategy & Operations Leader | Concept to Execution I Lean Six Sigma I Communication is the Answer to Everything
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Analysis | How much money do doctors really make and why is it such a lot? washingtonpost.comMDs salary headline is not the story here. The story needs to be about any one of the following (with the salary being the least important concern): - Student loan debt for medical school is 7x the average college graduate (AMA) - Median school debt is $200K (AAMC) - Only 93-94% of US medical school graduates match in residency (>5000 were unmatched this spring) (NRMP) - 1 in 5 residencies goes to an international medical school graduate; however, only <68% matched in 2023 - Approx. 10K qualified medical doctors in the US unable to practice (NY Times) - A 43-year-old study is antiquated information - the dropout rate of physicians to practice is very real and we can only blame our inability to change as the need has changed - The increase in procedural costs and reimbursem*nt is true; however, the greater need to increase malpractice and other liability coverage in a litigious society is overlookedSalary is only a small portion of the overall physician landscape. https://lnkd.in/gsMtDyj2
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Amber Paulus, PhD, RN, CPHQ commented on this
Leon C. Adelman, MD, MBA, FACEP, FAAEM
Emergency Physician, Co-founder & CEO at Ivy Clinicians, Author of Emergency Medicine Workforce Newsletter
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The Washington Post's "How much money do doctors really make and why is it such a lot?" - about physician pay - is snarky, insulting, and partly correct.Physician "overpay" pertains to a few specialties, not the house of medicine. Emergency physicians, for example, make $352,000 per year in the US (Medscape). In Canada, emergency physicians earn an average of $349,000 (Economic Research Institute). Seems fair, especially when considering young physicians' massive debt burdens & their prolonged education.However, "in certain specialties, doctorssee substantially more in their peak earning years:Neurosurgeons (about $920,000), orthopedic surgeons ($789,000) and radiation oncologists ($709,000) all did especially well for themselves."Doctors are not saints. They follow financial incentives. "The economists found that graduates from the top medical schools, who can presumably write their own ticket to any field they want, tend to choose those that pay the most."If the US wants a healthcare system that promotes primary care, prevention, and health, it should pay physicians more for providing services that best achieve those goals. The huge financial incentives for med students to become proceduralists distorts the physician job market and harms Americans' health.#emergencymedicineAmerican College of Emergency PhysiciansAmerican Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM)Emergency Medicine Residents' Association (EMRA)Andrew Van Dam
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Like CommentAmber Paulus, PhD, RN, CPHQ
Researcher @ Virginia Commonwealth University Nephrology/Healthcare Quality
I agree with your assertion that incentivizing med students to pursue a career in primary care could reshape the American healthcare system for the better. Only possible by addressing the financial discrepancy that currently leans towards procedural specialties. What a world to live in if we could successfully mobilize physicians to prioritize maintenance of health! We could anticipate lower rates of chronic illness, improved health outcomes, and a more proactive approach to health where prevention is prioritized over treatment.
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Matt Mazurek, MD, MBA, CPE, FAAPL, FACHE, FASA commented on this
Leon C. Adelman, MD, MBA, FACEP, FAAEM
Emergency Physician, Co-founder & CEO at Ivy Clinicians, Author of Emergency Medicine Workforce Newsletter
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The Washington Post's "How much money do doctors really make and why is it such a lot?" - about physician pay - is snarky, insulting, and partly correct.Physician "overpay" pertains to a few specialties, not the house of medicine. Emergency physicians, for example, make $352,000 per year in the US (Medscape). In Canada, emergency physicians earn an average of $349,000 (Economic Research Institute). Seems fair, especially when considering young physicians' massive debt burdens & their prolonged education.However, "in certain specialties, doctorssee substantially more in their peak earning years:Neurosurgeons (about $920,000), orthopedic surgeons ($789,000) and radiation oncologists ($709,000) all did especially well for themselves."Doctors are not saints. They follow financial incentives. "The economists found that graduates from the top medical schools, who can presumably write their own ticket to any field they want, tend to choose those that pay the most."If the US wants a healthcare system that promotes primary care, prevention, and health, it should pay physicians more for providing services that best achieve those goals. The huge financial incentives for med students to become proceduralists distorts the physician job market and harms Americans' health.#emergencymedicineAmerican College of Emergency PhysiciansAmerican Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM)Emergency Medicine Residents' Association (EMRA)Andrew Van Dam
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Like CommentMatt Mazurek, MD, MBA, CPE, FAAPL, FACHE, FASA
Assistant Professor, Yale School of Medicine and Director, Patient Quality and Safety, St. Raphael's Campus, Yale New Haven Health. Experienced Leader, Author, Speaker, Consultant.
Graduates from top medical schools often went to highly ranked colleges and were born and raised in more affluent households. The 'pump' to 'choose' the specialty is not because they are attending a top medical school. For many, that was part of the plan all along. I had every intention to go into primary care when I went to medical school. Then I found anesthesia, or it found me, early in my first-year of medical school. It had all of the bells and whistles and gadgets, the pharmacology, the physiology, and as an added bonus, I get to watch surgery most of the day. One of the reasons proceduralists earn more is because these specialties are somewhat riskier because of the 'doing' part plus the training required. Neurosurgeons, cardiothoracic, vascular, ophthalmologists, interventional rads, etc. are often performing high risk procedures on high risk patients. The stress level is extremely high, the hours, long into the night, etc. This is why the incomes are higher. Primary care physicians should earn more but not at the expense of reducing the other specialties' wages.
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Casey Husser, MD commented on this
Leon C. Adelman, MD, MBA, FACEP, FAAEM
Emergency Physician, Co-founder & CEO at Ivy Clinicians, Author of Emergency Medicine Workforce Newsletter
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The Washington Post's "How much money do doctors really make and why is it such a lot?" - about physician pay - is snarky, insulting, and partly correct.Physician "overpay" pertains to a few specialties, not the house of medicine. Emergency physicians, for example, make $352,000 per year in the US (Medscape). In Canada, emergency physicians earn an average of $349,000 (Economic Research Institute). Seems fair, especially when considering young physicians' massive debt burdens & their prolonged education.However, "in certain specialties, doctorssee substantially more in their peak earning years:Neurosurgeons (about $920,000), orthopedic surgeons ($789,000) and radiation oncologists ($709,000) all did especially well for themselves."Doctors are not saints. They follow financial incentives. "The economists found that graduates from the top medical schools, who can presumably write their own ticket to any field they want, tend to choose those that pay the most."If the US wants a healthcare system that promotes primary care, prevention, and health, it should pay physicians more for providing services that best achieve those goals. The huge financial incentives for med students to become proceduralists distorts the physician job market and harms Americans' health.#emergencymedicineAmerican College of Emergency PhysiciansAmerican Academy of Emergency Medicine (AAEM)Emergency Medicine Residents' Association (EMRA)Andrew Van Dam
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Like CommentCasey Husser, MD
Anesthesiologist at Anesthesia Physicians Ltd. | Recreational science communicator and debunker of woo
I hate how the conversation about physician income is always couched in the zero sum game of: “pediatricians make less because neurosurgeons make so much.” They are not related phenomena. Primary care is under-reimbursed. Full stop. Neurosurgeons are doing okay, and they deserve to be. Their residency is longer and more painful than any other, and I want them to be well compensated when they are digging a tumor out of my brain that might be adjacent to my motor strip or Wernicke’s area. I like being able to speak and move. It isn’t us against them among physicians. We should be supporting each other, not drawing battle lines. Infighting only makes physicians more easily preyed upon by insurers, large medical systems, and private equity.
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