Physician Specialty, Gender, and Self-Employment Affect Pay

Here are some key findings from the recently-released annual Medscape Physician Compensation Report:

• Average annual income for PCPs is $195,000, compared to $284,000 for specialists.
• The highest-income specialties are orthopedics ($421k), cardiology ($376k), and gastroenterology ($370k).
• Male physicians earn more ($284,000) than their female counterparts ($215,000).
• Men tend to dominate high-paying specialties: urology (92%), orthopedics (91%), and cardiology (88%).
• Self-employed PCPs earn $212,000 compared with their employed counterparts ($189,000).
• Self-employed specialists, on average, earn $329,000 compared to employed specialists ($258,000).

Source: WebMD Health Corp., April 21, 2015