Where provider pay is the highest

In the report, which was conducted by AMN's Physician Solutions division, formerly known as Merritt Hawkins, researchers found that physicians' starting salaries have largely recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Among physicians, orthopedic surgeons had the highest average starting salary at $633,000, followed by urologists at $540,000, and interventional cardiologists at $517,000. Pediatricians had the lowest average starting salary at $233,000.

Year-over-year, the physician specialties that saw the largest increases in their average starting salary were psychiatrists (19%), dermatologists (16%), anesthesiologists (12.5%), and orthopedic surgeons (12%).

"Rising physician starting salaries are a clear sign that demand for physicians is surging," said Leah Grant, president of AMN Healthcare Physician Solutions. "Virtually every hospital in the United States, and many other entities, are seeking physicians."

Demand for advanced practice nurses is also on the rise, with nurse practitioners (NPs) topping AMN's list of "most requested search engagements" for the third year in the row. According to the report, "[d]emand for NPs is being driven by a growing number of 'convenient care' providers, including retail clinics, urgent care centers and telemedicine platforms, which employ large numbers of NPs."

The strong demand for NPs has also led to an increase in compensation, with average salary offers for NPs increasing from $138,000 last year to $158,000 this year, a growth of 9%.

How primary care disruptors are impacting pay

According to Forbes, large retailers entering the healthcare industry has increased demand for physicians and NPs, which has likely also increased compensation for these professions.

Currently, CVS Health is adding dozens of new primary care clinics through senior primary care clinic developer Oak Street Health, which it acquired for over $10 billion earlier this year. Amazon also recently entered the primary care space with its acquisition of One Medical, which operates over 220 primary care offices in more than 28 U.S. markets.

Walgreens, which has invested in primary care provider VillageMD, is rolling out hundreds of new clinics across the country. Walgreens plans to open at-least 600 co-operated VillageMD practices in 25 markets by 2025 and 1,000 practices by 2027. VillageMD also expanded earlier this year by acquiring Summit Health, which also includes the urgent care clinic chain CityMD, for $8.9 billion.

Walmart, the largest retailer in the country, is also expanding its healthcare footprint with more Walmart Health centers. In March, the company said it plans to expand into two new states, Arizona and Missouri, and open 28 new health centers by the end of 2024, bringing the nationwide total to 75.

"Healthcare is evolving as new market entrants seek to change how and where care is delivered," Grant said. More types of organizations are recruiting physicians, causing salaries to trend up." (Japsen, Forbes, 8/14; AMN Healthcare 2023 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives survey, 7/24; AMN Healthcare, Yahoo! Finance, 8/14)

Conversations about disruption in health care often focus on digital health startups. But the influence of individual startups is relatively small compared to big industry players: vertically integrated organizations, big retail, health plans, and corporate venture capital. These players decide what ideas are worth scaling, who is valuable enough to get acquired, and what level of funding goes where. See how industry stakeholders use digital health and where they fit in the digital health market.