Report: At $686,000 Orthopedic Surgeons Earn The Highest Physician Starting Salary
06 August 2024 - 12:00AM
Orthopedic surgeons are offered the highest average starting salary
among physicians at $686,000, while pediatricians are at the low
end of the starting salary scale at $244,000, according to an
annual report from AMN Healthcare’s Physician Solutions division
(formerly known as Merritt Hawkins).
The 2024 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner
Recruiting Incentives, now in its 31st year, tracks starting
salaries and other incentives offered by hospitals and medical
groups to physicians, nurse practitioners (NPs) and other advanced
practice professionals. Specialists are offered the top starting
salaries among physicians, according to the report. After
orthopedic surgeons, gastroenterologists are offered the highest
average starting salary at $531,000, followed by urologists at
$496,000, radiologists at $495,000 and dermatologists at
$486,000.
Primary care physicians are offered significantly lower starting
salaries than specialists, the report indicates. Family medicine
physicians are offered an average starting salary of $271,000, as
are general internists, less than half that of orthopedic
surgeons.
“Current physician payment models favor specialists,” said Leah
Grant, president of AMN Healthcare Physician Solutions. “They
perform the high revenue generating procedures on which many
hospitals and medical groups depend.”
While NPs are offered lower starting salaries than physicians,
salary offers to NPs are increasing, according to the report. The
average starting salary offer for NPs is $164,000, up over 8%
year-over-year, and up 32% from five years ago.
“NPs are in rapidly growing demand as physician shortages
persist,” Grant said. “Without them, access to healthcare would be
even more problematic, particularly in rural and other underserved
areas.”
Signing Bonuses, Relocation and CME
In addition to starting salaries, physicians and NPs often are
offered signing bonuses, relocation allowances and continuing
medical education (CME) allowances. The average signing bonus for
physicians tracked in the report is $31,103, while the average
signing bonus for NPs is $11,037.
The average relocation allowance is $11,284 for physicians and
$7,910 for NPs and other advanced practice professionals. The
average CME allowance is $3,969 for physicians and $2,195 for NPs.
Most physician and NP employment contracts also offer benefits like
health insurance, malpractice insurance and retirement/401k
plans.
More Entities Vying for Physicians and NPs
According to Grant, a growing number of organizations are
seeking to recruit physicians and NPs from a limited supply of
candidates. These organizations include retail clinics, urgent care
centers, telehealth platforms, insurance companies and private
equity firms, all of which are vying with hospitals and medical
groups for talent.
“Healthcare is evolving as new market entrants seek to change
how and where care is delivered,” said Grant. “More types of
organizations are recruiting physicians and NPs, causing starting
salaries to trend up.”
Demand for Ob/Gyns Strong, Supply Limited
AMN Healthcare received more requests to recruit
obstetricians/gynecologists in the last year than any other type of
physician, with the exception of family medicine physicians,
according to the report. The average starting salary offer made to
Ob/Gyns is $389,000, up 6% year-over-year and up 22% from five
years ago, underscoring strong demand for the specialty.
AMN Healthcare’s 2024 Review of Physician and Advanced
Practitioner Recruiting Incentives is based on a representative
sample of the 2,138 search engagements the company conducted from
April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024, and includes data on starting
salaries and other incentives offered by the company’s clients to
physicians and advanced practice professionals nationwide. A copy
of the report can be accessed at
https://www.amnhealthcare.com/siteassets/amn-insights/physician/incentive-review-2024-final.pdf
About AMN Healthcare AMN Healthcare
is the leader and innovator in total talent solutions for
healthcare organizations across the United States. Through a
steadfast partnership approach, we solve the most pressing
workforce challenges to enable better clinical outcomes and access
to care. We provide a comprehensive network of quality healthcare
professionals and deliver a fully integrated and customizable suite
of workforce technologies.
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