June 2006

Real income of MDs declines

In sharp contrast to other professionals, the net income of medical doctors declined about 7 percent between 1995 and 2003 after adjusting for inflation, according to a national study released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).

The decline in physicians’ real income stands in sharp contrast to the wage trends for other professionals who saw about a 7 percent increase between 1995 and 2003 after adjusting for inflation, the study found.

Among different types of physicians, primary-care physicians fared the worst with a 10.2 percent decline in real income between 1995 and 2003, while surgeons’ real income declined by 8.2 percent. But medical specialists’ real income essentially remained unchanged.

Despite the downward trend in real incomes, medicine overall remains one of the most well-paid professions in the United States: At least half of all patient care physicians earned more than $170,000 in 2003, and physician average net income was about $203,000, the study found. Although surgical specialists have lost ground to inflation since the mid-1990s, they remain the highest earning of all physicians, with average incomes of $272,000 in 2003—29 percent higher than medical specialists and 86 percent higher than primary care physicians.

Source: The Center for Studying Health System Change, www.hschange.com

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