Lifetime earnings for physicians across specialties

Details

• Personal Author:
  Jerant A ; Kravitz RL ; Leigh JP ; Romano PS ; Tancredi D
• Description:
  BACKGROUND: Earlier studies estimated annual income differences across specialties, but lifetime income may be more relevant given physicians' long-term commitments to specialties. METHODS: Annual income and work hours data were collected from 6381 physicians in the nationally representative 2004-2005 Community Tracking Study. Data regarding years of residency were collected from AMA FREIDA. Present value models were constructed assuming 3% discount rates. Estimates were adjusted for demographic and market covariates. Sensitivity analyses included 4 alternative models involving work hours, retirement, exogenous variables, and 1% discount rate. Estimates were generated for 4 broad specialty categories (Primary Care, Surgery, Internal Medicine and Pediatric Subspecialties, and Other), and for 41 specific specialties. RESULTS: The estimates of lifetime earnings for the broad categories of Surgery, Internal Medicine and Pediatric Subspecialties, and Other specialties were $1,587,722, $1,099,655, and $761,402 more than for Primary Care. For the 41 specific specialties, the top 3 (with family medicine as reference) were neurological surgery ($2,880,601), medical oncology ($2,772,665), and radiation oncology ($2,659,657). The estimates from models with varying rates of retirement and including only exogenous variables were similar to those in the preferred model. The 1% discount model generated estimates that were roughly 150% larger than the 3% model. CONCLUSIONS: There was considerable variation in the lifetime earnings across physician specialties. After accounting for varying residency years and discounting future earnings, primary care specialties earned roughly $1-3 million less than other specialties. Earnings' differences across specialties may undermine health reform efforts to control costs and ensure adequate numbers of primary care physicians. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Demography Health Care Facilities Workforce And Services Health Personnel Occupational Health Safety Workplace
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Surgery Demographic-characteristics Income Medical-personnel Medical-services Models Oncology Physicians Primary Care Satisfaction Statistical-analysis Work-environment

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• ISSN:
  0025-7079
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant ; Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  50
• Issue:
  12
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042091
• Citation:
  Med Care 2012 Dec; 50(12):1093-1101
• Contact Point Address:
  J. Paul Leigh, PhD, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis School of Medicine, TB 168, Davis, CA 95616-8638
• Email:
  pleigh@ucdavis.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2013
• NORA Priority Area:
  Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing
• Performing Organization:
  University of California - Davis
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20050601
• Source Full Name:
  Medical Care
• End Date:
  20100531
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:025f53e35b53018f64cc8d7e48902dbfae9985b15209fe3bcfeb1f5fbbd38b3344b4bd8bf4730ae1467efd68e0b2dc9fa131063127aaef9eb3012fa6fb4d744e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194424/cdc_194424_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 275.50 KB ]