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Pay in primary care is rising, compared to other specialties, according to a survey by AMGA Consulting.
Primary care compensation rose an average of 6.1%, outpacing wage increases of 1.5% and 1.6% in medical and surgical specialties, respectively, according to the 36th annual ‘AMGA. 2023 Medical Group Productivity and Compensation Survey. According to the survey, the rates were 6.1% for family medicine, 6.4% for internal medicine and 5% for pediatric and adolescent general medicine.
Work relative value units also increased in primary care at rates of 3.4% for family medicine, 1.8% for internal medicine and 8.9% for general medicine pediatric and adolescent, AMGA said.
The increase in compensation levels appeared to be evidence that organizations are increasing compensation based on the 2021 management and evaluation coding changes implemented by the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said the director of AMGA Consulting, Elizabeth Siemsen, in a press release announcing the numbers.
“The survey results indicate that primary care gains are evident as the smoke clears from the slow transition to using new wRVU weights for calculating compensation and volume changes in pandemic,” Siemsen said.
Among medical specialties, cardiologists saw a 2.1% increase in compensation; gastroenterology decreased by 0.6%; hematology and medical oncology increased by 3.2%; and neurology grew by 1.9%. In terms of surgical specialties, general obstetrics-gynecology increased by 2.4%; emergency medicine was down 0.7%; general surgery increased by 2.5%; and orthopedic surgery grew by 4.6%, according to AMGA data.
As physician pay rises, average compensation follows the same trend for advanced practice physicians. Primary care nurse practitioners (PCs) saw a 6.1% increase in compensation; Physician assistant (PA) compensation grew 7%. For IPs in medical specialties, compensation grew 6.2%, while PAs in surgical specialties rose 5%, according to AMGA figures.
These results “may demonstrate the impact of the post-pandemic APC recruitment market and increased utilization of APCs to address access by medical groups as patient demand recovered,” according to AMGA.
For the 2023 survey, average net collections grew 5.2%, showing a greater disconnect between collections and physician compensation than in previous years.
“It’s clear from the data that revenue gains are not going directly to physician compensation,” AMGA Consulting President Fred Horton, MHA, said in a statement.
“Rather, the groups are using that revenue to cover increases in non-supplier expenses,” Horton said. “A lower compensation-to-receipts ratio suggests that a higher percentage of revenue will cover all the expenses that have increased in recent years. These include staff costs, supply costs and the like. Essentially, we see this data as reflecting that organizations are focusing on managing the changing financial demands on medical group operations.”
The 2023 survey was announced at the end of June. It contains data from 446 medical groups representing more than 193,000 physicians and other providers in 194 specialties, according to AMGA.
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