5 Current Trends in Physician Salaries

With the current trend heading towards more hospital employment for physicians, what does this mean for physician's salaries? Hospital employment typically provides more stability in an uncertain market, however how will this trend affect the physician's salaries and compensation packages?

SullivanCotter and Associates' 2011 Physician Compensation and Productivity Survey recently gathered data from more than 60,000 physicians, residents, mid-level providers and medical group executives.

According to the survey, here are 5 trends consistent with today's physician salaries and starting compensation packages:

1. Economics don't support significant increases in physician salary.
2. On-call pay is rising.
3. Different pay models are forming based on physician.
4. Sign-on bonuses favor specialists.
5. Relocation packages are increasing.

With these uncertain economic times and also the healthcare compensation industry heading for significant changes it is more important than ever to negotiate your starting compensation package based on your long term goals; not only the salary but also location, quality of life, long-term advancement potential, and running your personal practice the way you trained for and envisioned.

Read the full article in Becker's Hospital Review, or click here:
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-issues/where-are-physician-salaries-heading-5-current-trends.html

25 Statistics on Physician Salary and Compensation

This is an interesting article from Becker's Hospital Review, they have compiled 25 statistics across various specialties on physician compensation.

In all specialties there are huge variables in physician compensation: geographical areas, practice model, bonus structure, and call just being a few of many different factors.

During contract negotiations we can use compensation data as a benchmark, but there is no scientific method for determining what a fair market salary can be for any physician specialty. It is important to consider not only income but also other motivating factors that will make your job your ideal physician position, i.e. quality of life, location, benefits, security, marketing, and stability just to name a few.


Read the full article in Becker's Hospital Review, or click here:
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-issues/25-statistics-on-physician-salary-and-compensation.html

The Business of Physician Recruitment

Currently there are many pending changes that will affect the healthcare industry, both from the perspectives of patients and physicians themselves with doubts of Medicare reimbursement, government intervention, and of course the state of the economy.

The existing physician shortage will only increase with the continued retirement of baby boomers and the changes in availability of insured patients. Now it is more important than ever for all parties seeking physicians to be competitive and open-minded in physician recruitment.

It is important for private practices, hospitals, and even academic facilities to be flexible in creating compensation packages and attracting potential candidates. Not only a competitive salary and benefit package, but also other incentives that appeal to a physician's quality of life such as ownership, shared call, vacation days, and other big-picture factors that contribute to the quality of an employment contract.

According to the “2009 Physician Retention Survey,” conducted by the American Medical Group Association and Cejka Search, there are some ways in addition to making income packages more attractive to appeal to physician candidates.

With the uncertain times ahead of us in the healthcare industry stability and incentives are more important than ever to attract top talent.


Read the full article in MDNews.com, or click here:
http://www.mdnews.com/news/2011_08/national_aug11_the-business-%E2%80%A8of-physician-recruitment