Primary care income down 10 percent

Average physician income dropped more than 7 percent between 1995 and 2003 after adjusting for inflation, according to a national study from the Center for Studying Health System Change. The decline in income stands in sharp contrast to the income of professional or technical workers who saw an increase of about 7 percent. Primary care providers took the biggest hit with an income drop of more than 10 percent over this period. The second largest drop, 8.2 percent, hit surgical specialists, though average income for this group still stands at about $272,000 or 86 percent higher than the average pay of primary care physicians.

Overall work hours for all specialties has decreased, but time spent in direct patient care has increased. Spending the majority of work time on these non-reimbursable patient education and administrative duties, such as face-to-face contact with patients, patient record-keeping and office work, travel time connected with seeing patients and communication with other health care providers, means lower income.

The study attributes physician income decline mostly to the flat or declining fees from private and public payers. The authors project that statistics like these cause growing physician unwillingness to contribute charity care or volunteer for hospital committees as well as a bleak outlook for primary care as more students choose the set hours and dependable income of other specialties.

Read the study, “Losing Ground: Physician Income 1995-2003,” from the Center for Studying Health System Change for more information.