Primary care physicians have been the most heavily recruited medical specialists over the past decade — but is their compensation meeting up with the demand?
According to a Merritt Hawkins survey, which showed primary care physicians have topped hospitals' recruiting list for seven straight years, the pay results are mixed.
Of the four main subgroups of primary care — family medicine, internal medicine, hospitalist and pediatrics — two received higher average salary offers over the past year. Internists' average base salaries rose 2.5 percent to $208,000, and hospitalists' average salaries increased 2.7 percent to $227,000. Base salary offers for family physicians dropped 2.1 percent to $185,000, and pediatricians recorded average base salaries of $179,000, a drop of 5.3 percent.
However, compared with five years ago, each of the four subgroups recorded higher salaries.
Hospitalist
2012-13: $227,000
2008-09: $201,000
Difference: 12.9 percent
Internal medicine
2012-13: $208,000
2008-09: $186,000
Difference: 11.8 percent
Family medicine
2012-13: $185,000
2008-09: $173,000
Difference: 6.9 percent
Pediatrics
2012-13: $179,000
2008-09: $171,000
Difference: 4.7 percent
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