Newswatch: October 2004

Research data reveals trends in physician compensation for most specialties

According to the 2004 Medical Group Compensation & Financial Survey from the American Medical Group Association (AMGA of Alexandria, Va), most specialty physicians experienced modest increases in compensation in 2003. Of the more than 30,500 medical group physicians surveyed throughout the United States, the study found that only certain high-demand specialties experienced major increases in median compensation during 2003.

"Over the past few years, we have seen dramatic increases in certain high-demand specialties, while the increases for general practitioners have become increasingly smaller," stated Donald W. Fisher, PhD, president and CEO of the AMGA. "Last year, we actually saw declines in compensation for some specialties, notably internal medicine (down 1.81%) and emergency care (down 1.42%). Fortunately, we did not see such declines this year, although the increases were very slight in many cases."

The AMGA study also found that geography plays a significant role in compensation variance among physicians. The section of the survey that examines financial operations found that groups in the Northern region of the United States were operating with an average loss of $3,477 per physician. Groups in the Southern region on average increased $570 per physician, while groups in the Eastern and Western regions of the country were performing better, increasing $2,080 and $1,530 per physician, respectively.

Fisher notes that the impact of malpractice premiums on the financial solvency of physicians is one of the major factors affecting physician compensation. While the compensation rates remain essentially flat, malpractice premiums continue to increase.

The American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT of Albuquerque, NM) recently conducted its own salary review, which reports that 44% of RTs are satisfied with their current salaries or wages, while 31% indicated that they are not satisfied. The survey also found that the current average hourly wage of $24.16 and annual salary of $65,401 represent increases of 19.7% and 26.5% respectively since 2001.

"The increase in wages over the past 3 years reflects continued demand for skilled professionals," said ASRT CEO Lynn May. "Although national personnel shortages might experience short-term abatement, there's still going to be a need for more technologists in the long term. Radiology departments will continue to compete for a limited supply of technologists, [which is] driving up wages."

According to the results of the survey, in which 375 ASRT registrants from across the country participated, 79% of respondents said that they receive additional pay for hours worked outside of a 40-hour workweek. Of the survey respondents, 68% indicated that overtime pay accounts for 5% or less of their total annual compensation, and 9% said that overtime accounts for more than 20% of total compensation. Of the respondents, 45% noted being paid for on-call duty and received an average of $35.59 per hour for each instance.

ASRT also found regional differences in compensation among RTs. California had the highest hourly wages ($30.03/hour) followed by Washington, DC ($29.67/hour), Massachusetts ($28.88/hour), Alaska ($28.57/hour), and New Jersey ($27.53/hour). The nation's lowest hourly wages were in West Virginia ($19.22/hour), Alabama ($19.76/hour), North Dakota ($19.79/hour), Iowa ($19.85/hour), and Kentucky ($20.65/hour).

The results of the entire ASRT survey are available online at www.asrt.org.

Source: AMGA's 2004 Medical Group Compensation and Financial Survey