Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Salaries up for most faculty docs... By Andis Robeznieks

Salaries up for most faculty docs

By Andis Robeznieks
Healthcare Business News: Posted: March 16, 2011 - 2:00 pm ET

Most academic faculty physicians saw slight increases in their compensation, with internists and pulmonary medicine specialists seeing the biggest raises, according to a new report from the Englewood, Colo.-based Medical Group Management Association.



The report, Academic Practice Compensation and Production Survey for Faculty and Management: 2011 Report Based on 2010 Data, said the median compensation for primary-care faculty physicians was $163,704, up 3.47% from $158,218 in 2009, and the median pay for specialty care faculty was $241,959, or 2.7% higher than $235,587 in 2009. The rate of inflation for 2010, as calculated by the Consumer Price Index, was 1.5%.

Median pay for faculty pulmonary medicine specialists jumped 7.38% to $197,011 from $183,475 in 2009, while academic internists saw their pay climb to $172,985—a 6.84 % increase from $161,916 in 2009, according to the report.

"Recently, higher salaries have been required to hire internal medicine faculty," said Jonathan Tamir, associate chairman of finance and administration within the internal-medicine department at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn., in an MGMA news release. 
"It is the law of supply and demand. More applicants are interested in part-time appointments or reduced on-call roles. The demand for more highly paid hospitalists is increasing, further reducing the applicant pool, and senior physicians are retiring earlier than in the past."

Not all specialists saw raises, however. Faculty ophthalmologists saw their median compensation drop 5.59% to $220,414 from $233,460 in 2009, and academic hematology/oncology specialists saw their median pay drop 1.89% to $208,863 from $212,897 in 2009.

The report noted that pay for academic physicians continues to trail compensation for doctors in private practice and that participation in the survey is voluntary and may not be representative of the healthcare industry. The report includes data on 18,776 faculty physicians and those in management roles.

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