Majority of physician specialties see increases in compensation in 2015

In 2015, a full 74% of physician specialties experienced increases in compensation, according to results from the most recent survey from the American Medical Group Association (AMGA), the 2016 Medical Group Compensation and Productivity Survey, conducted by AMGA Consulting. This translated to an overall weighted 3.1% average increase in 2015, in line with the previous year’s increase (2013-2014) of 2.8%.

“Once again this year, we see that physician compensation in general has remained relatively flat, with an average increase around 3.0%,” said Donald W. Fisher, PhD, CAE, president and chief executive officer of AMGA.

“We’ve seen peaks in certain specialties, and dips in others, and much of this reflects the cyclical nature of healthcare economics. However, with the movement to value-based incentives for care, the delivery model is changing to a more team-based approach, which has always been the hallmark of AMGA member medical groups. It will be interesting to watch compensation trends over the next few years as these value-based models become more prevalent,” he added.

The AMGA 2016 Medical Group Compensation and Productivity Survey presents data for 138 physician specialties and 31 other provider specialties, with breakdowns by region and group size, as assigned by physician FTE. Data includes compensation, net collections, work RVUs, compensation-to-productivity ratios, panel sizes, gross productivity, fringe benefits and benefits expense-to-compensation ratios, patient visits, compensation for experienced new hires and new residents or fellows, compensation and productivity for academic facilities, and compensation and productivity for nurse practitioner and physician assistant subspecialties.

These data are representative of large, multispecialty medical groups and integrated health systems, and are comprised of responses from 260 medical groups, a 3% increase from last year’s survey, which represents more than 92,000 providers, a 26% increase. The data are representative of large multispecialty medical groups and integrated health systems.

The largest increases in compensation were in Emergency Medicine (up 9.6%), Cardiac/Thoracic Surgery (up 8.1%), Cardiology (up 6.9%), and Hypertension and Nephrology (up 6.7%). Other findings from the 2016 survey include the following:

• Primary care specialists saw an increase of 3.6%, which is good news after the decrease of 0.3% that occurred in 2014.
• Surgical specialists saw an average increase of 3.6%, up from 2.0% in 2014.
• “One basic tenet of any compensation system is that it allows an organization to successfully recruit and retain talent necessary to carry out the work of the organization,” said Tom Dobosenski, CPA, president, AMGA Consulting.
• “In order to do so, most AMGA member organizations believe that physician compensation systems must offer the opportunity for physicians to earn market rates of compensation for market rates of effort or output. This survey is a tool our members use to evaluate whether their plans are market-based by comparing their performance to others,” Dobosenski added.

Surveys are available for purchase for $400 to AMGA members and $800 to non-members. To order, visit amga.org or contact AMGA at 703.838.0033 ext. 362 or cgibbs@amga.org. Survey data are also available in a subscription-based, interactive, online database. For details, contact cgibbs@amga.org or visit amga.org.