By Bruce Japsen

Primary care physician compensation surpassed $300,000 last year as doctor practices and the healthcare industry grapple with staffing issues in a tight labor market.

A new report shows median primary care physician compensation rose 4.4% to $312,427 in 2023 compared to $299,157 in 2022. That compensation growth was about the same as surgical specialist compensation that rose 4.42% to $554,108 from $530,649. Nonsurgical specialist compensation rose only 1.81% to $432,983 last year compared to $425,265.

The report reflects increased productivity of physicians in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which included office shutdowns in 2020 and kept patients from seeing their physicians regularly through 2022 and into 2023. Though productivity of physicians and patients are returning for care and treatments, and said providers are continuing to recover from economic and staffing challenges.

“Provider compensation increased for the fourth consecutive year among primary care and nonsurgical specialty physicians,” according to the 2024 Provider Compensation report, which includes data from more than 211,000 physicians and advanced practice providers.

“The largest gains in total median compensation were for primary care physicians (4.44%) and surgical specialists (4.42%), with nonsurgical specialist physicians seeing only a 1.81% bump in 2023,”. “The primary care and specialist gains managed to keep up with the 3.4% rise in the Consumer Price Index for last year, though five-year changes in physician compensation across all specialty types — dating back to pre-pandemic benchmarks in 2019 — lag the nearly 21% CPI surge in that same period.”

MGMA executives said primary care, surgical specialty and nonsurgical specialty physicians who work in independent practices “all reported higher median work relative value units (work RVUs) in 2023 versus 2022.”

This came despite healthcare staffing issues. A report last year showed physician-owned practices had just 3.0 support staff per full-time equivalent physician in 2022 compared to 5.08 per doctor in 2019 as the COVID-19 pandemic and the so-called “Great Resignation” took their toll on doctor practices across the country.

"Despite being faced with escalating overhead, declining physician reimbursement, and a challenging labor market, medical groups pushed themselves to elevated levels of productivity in 2023, ensuring they could meet the increased demand for care in their communities," Dr. Halee Fischer-Wright, said in a statement accompanying the new report. "As physician and other staffing shortages persist, medical group leaders should embrace the latest digital technologies to assist in optimizing operations, maintaining access to care and recognizing meaningful cost savings."