Report details

For the report, MGMA surveyed more than 211,000 physicians and advanced practice providers (APPs).

The report found that the largest gains in total median compensation in 2023 compared to 2022 were among primary care physicians (4.44%) and surgical specialists (4.42%), while nonsurgical specialists only saw an increase in compensation of 1.81%.

In addition, primary care and specialist compensation increases kept up with the 3.4% increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for last year, MGMA found. However, five-year changes in physician compensation across all specialty types lagged behind the 21% increase in CPI during that same period.

Meanwhile, APPs saw their total median compensation increase by 6.47%, which contributed to a 16.23% overall increase since pre-pandemic 2019 levels, the report found.

The specialty that saw the largest compensation change between 2022 and 2023 was dermatologists at 10.18%, followed by neurosurgeons at 10.05% and orthopedic surgeons at 8.77%.

MGMA also listed the states with the highest and lowest compensation in 2023, citing Mississippi as the highest-paying state for primary care and Alaska as the lowest. Meanwhile, for surgical specialists, South Carolina was listed as the highest-paying state while Wyoming was listed as the lowest-paying. For APPs, Nevada was listed as the highest-paying state, while the District of Columbia was listed as the lowest-paying.

MGMA also looked at increases in provider productivity, and found that primary care, surgical specialty, and nonsurgical specialty physicians in independent practices all reported higher median work relative value units (RVUs) in 2023 compared to 2022. Work RVUs were also up in 2023 for primary care and surgical specialty physicians in hospital-owned practices, as well as for APPs.

According to the report, invasive cardiologists saw the biggest increase in RVU workload in 2023 compared to 2022 with a 16.25% increase, followed by neurosurgeons at 12.5% and orthopedic surgeons at 11.44%.

Discussion

Andrew Swanson, SVP of product strategy and sales for MGMA, said that since the COVID-19 pandemic, practices have found ways "to be more productive by seeing more patients in the day."

Seeing more patients requires more staff time, however, Swanson noted, "they're using less of that because they're optimizing technology by streamlining the EHR," using Apple's Siri for voice-over dictation, and using electronic systems to schedule patients and remind them of their appointments.

"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," said Halee Fischer-Wright, president and CEO of MGMA. "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." (MGMA press release, 5/28; Clark, MedPage Today, 5/29; Japsen, Forbes, 5/28)

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