Where does radiology rank? 10 takeaways from a new physician compensation survey
The average annual salary for radiologists is $401,000 per year, according to Medscape’s Physician Compensation Report 2018. But how does that compare to other specialties?
More than 20,000 physicians participated in the annual compensation survey from Medscape. Sixty-six percent of respondents were men, and 34 percent were women. “For employed respondents, compensation includes salary, bonus and profit-sharing contributions,” according to the study. “For partners and solo practitioners, it includes earnings after taxes and deductible business expenses but before income taxes.”
These are 10 key takeaways from the report.
- The average salary of $401,000 makes radiology the fifth top-earning specialty. The four specialties making more, on average, are gastroenterology ($408,000), cardiology ($423,000), orthopedics ($497,000) and plastic surgery ($501,000).
- Just 15 percent of radiologists are women, which places it in the bottom 5 of all specialties.
- Sixty-five percent of radiologists reported that they feel “fairly compensated.” This is eighth among all specialties. Overall, 55 percent of respondents said they feel fairly compensated.
- Ninety-six percent of radiologists answered that they would choose the same specialty again, making it No. 3 among all specialties. It came in behind orthopedics and plastic surgery.
- Seventy-eight percent of radiologists answered that, if they could make the decision all over again, they would still choose to work in medicine again. This placed radiology No. 15 among all specialties.
- The average overall physician salary in 2018 is $299,000. Primary care physicians average $223,000, up from $217,000 in 2017. Specialists average $329,000, up from $316,000 in 2017.
- The average physician salary in Indiana is $334,000, the highest of any state. Oklahoma, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Nevada round out the top five in this category. The state with the lowest average physician salary is Michigan, where the number s $277,000.
- Male primary care physicians average a salary of $239,000, almost 18 percent more than female primary care physicians ($203,000). Meanwhile, male specialists average a salary of $358,000 and female specialists average a salary of $263,000 That’s a difference of approximately 36 percent.
- What about Merit-based Incent Payment System (MIPS) and alternative payment model (APM) participation? Thirty-six percent of primary care physicians and 38 percent of specialists plan on participating in MIPS. Thirteen percent of primary care physicians and 9 percent of specialists plan on participating in APMs.
- In 2017, 12 percent of physicians said the most rewarding part of their job was, “Knowing that I’m making the world a better place.” That number jumped to 23 percent in 2018. The No. 1 answer to that question was, “Gratitude/relationships with patients” for the third straight year.
The full report is available here. The 2017 report is available here.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.