Report: Physician starting salary surging, medical specialties in high demand

Editor's Note

According to this annual report from the AMN Healthcare’s Physician Solutions division (formerly known as Merritt Hawkins), titled "2023 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives" and published on July 24, the average "starting salaries for physicians have rebounded from the COVID-19 pandemic," an AMN Healthcare August 14 press release reports.

AMN Healthcare’s 2023 report includes data from 2,676 search engagements it conducted from April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023. AMN Healthcare’s search engagements in that period were mainly (64%) for medical specialists; 17% were for primary care physicians, while the remaining 19% were for advanced practice professionals such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified registered nurse anesthetists.

Findings include the following year-over-year increases:

• average starting salaries are up 19% year-over-year for psychiatrists
• up 16% for dermatologists
• up 12.5% for anesthesiologists
• up 12% for orthopedic surgeons
• up 10.5% for OB/GYNs.

The report indicates "that demand for medical specialists such as gastroenterologists, orthopedic surgeons, oncologists, pulmonologists, neurologists, and psychiatrists is rising, while demand for primary care physicians such as family physicians and internists has cooled over the last several years." According to the report, "orthopedic surgeons are offered the highest average starting salary at $633,000...followed by urologists at $540,000, interventional cardiologists at $517,000, and gastroenterologists at $506,000."

"Rising physician starting salaries are a clear sign that demand for physicians is surging," said Leah Grant, president of AMN Healthcare Physician Solutions. "Virtually every hospital in the United States, and many other entities, are seeking physicians."