Medscape Physician Salary & Satisfaction Survey Results
Medscape has released the results of their 2013 physician salary and satisfaction survey. They’ve been doing this for the past 3 years and the results are interesting and informative. The data comprises information from 21,878 physicians across 25 medical specialties regarding the 2012 fiscal year. I cherry picked some key points I thought you might find interesting for the Anesthesiologist community:
- Anesthesiology was the 6th highest compensated specialty in 2012 at $337,000. The 3 top earning specialties were: orthopedic surgery ($405,000), cardiology ($357,000), and radiology ($349,000).
- Anesthesiologist experienced an average of 5% increase in income in 2012.
- Board certification contributed towards an increase in compensation of $101,000.
- Only 47% of Anesthesiologist said that they were overall satisfied.
- 55% said that they were fairly compensated.
- Only 39% said that they would choose Medicine as a career again.
- Only 46% said that they would choose Anesthesiology as a specialty again.
- The two most rewarding parts of the jobs were: patient interaction and diagnosing patient problems.
I think the most telling survey finding is the drop in satisfaction levels of all physicians and Anesthesiologists in particular. It’s hard to determine the source of the dissatisfaction, however; given the shear amount of chance interjected into the healthcare system by the Affordable Care Act, it is no wonder that healthcare providers are unhappy because of the unknowns that exist.
To view all of the Medscape survey findings in a slideshow format, click the link below:
http://www.medscape.com/features/slideshow/compensation/2013/public
CMS Releases Proposed 2014 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the proposed 2014 Medicare fee schedule for physician services on July 8, 2013. A summary of the proposed fee schedule changes follows:
- An approximate 24.4 percent physician payment cut due to the sustainable growth rate formula (SGR)
- Implementation of the physician value-based payment modifier by applying the 2016 modifier to groups of 10 or more eligible professionals (EPs) and requiring large groups to assume risk through the quality-tiering component of the program
- Changes to the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), such as requiring EPs to report at least nine measures covering at least three of the National Quality Strategy Domains and adding a new “qualified clinical data registry” reporting method to the program
- Limitations to the payment for approximately 200 services where the physician fee schedule nonfacility payment is higher than the total payment to furnish the same service in a facility setting (either a hospital outpatient department or an ambulatory surgery center)
CMS will accept public comments on the proposed rule until Sept. 6, and plans to issue a final rule by Nov. 1. To read an in depth analysis of the 2014 proposed physician fee schedule click here.
