An extra 1% of physicians retired due to COVID; half consider leaving medicine due to overwork; gender pay gap is 28%
SAN FRANCISCO, December 16, 2021 – Doximity, Inc. (NYSE: DOCS), the leading digital platform for U.S. medical professionals, today released its fifth annual Physician Compensation Report. The study – which surveyed more than 40,000 full-time U.S. physicians for this year’s report – is the largest physician compensation data set in the United States.* It is also the largest study to provide five years of year-over-year trends data, gathered from surveys of over 160,000 physicians,15,000 nurse practitioners and 10,000 physician assistants from 2017 to 2021.
Among its key findings, the study shows the gender pay gap persisted this year with female physicians earning 28% less than male physicians; a delta of more than $122,700. That gap increased from 26.5% in 2017 to 28.2% this year. Among NPs and PAs, the gender pay gaps have been steadily declining over the last five years and are now 11% and 10%, respectively.
The report also includes a separate survey of medical professionals' sentiment about their employment. Over 73% of physicians reported feeling overworked and 49.5% reported considering employment change due to COVID-related overwork. Notably, female physicians are considering early retirement at higher rates than their male colleagues.
An analysis of Medicare claims data shows major disruption to practice patterns at the onset of COVID-19, coinciding with an increase in physician retirement, representing an extra 1% of the physician workforce. Given that the pandemic continues and that physicians report increasing rates of burnout, this is concerning for 2022 physician retirement trends and the growing physician shortage.
“Medical professionals’ responsibilities, hours and stresses grew dramatically during the pandemic and, as a result, we’ve seen an increase in burnout, especially among female physicians. For that reason, this is the first year our study has surveyed physicians regarding their retirement plans,” said Peter Alperin, Vice President of Product, Doximity. “By tracking this new data, as well as the compensation information we’ve reported on for years, we hope to provide the medical community with a framework to help it understand employee’s sentiments, hiring needs and dynamics.”
The study revealed that physician compensation grew 3.8% from 2020 to 2021, compared with a 1.5% increase from 2019 to 2020. These pay increases may be attributable to the tight labor market for clinicians.
View Doximity’s fifth annual Physician Compensation Report.
*A prior copy of the release stated that the report drew from a survey of 46,000 full-time physicians. In fact, the report drew from 46,000 full-time and part-time physician surveys; of which over 40,000 were full-time and used for the compensation comparisons.
About Doximity
Founded in 2010, Doximity is the leading digital platform for U.S. medical professionals. The company’s network members include over 80% of U.S. physicians across all specialties and practice areas. Doximity provides its verified clinical membership with digital tools built for medicine, enabling them to collaborate with colleagues, stay up to date with the latest medical news and research, manage their careers and conduct virtual patient visits. Doximity’s mission is to help doctors be more productive so they can provide better care for their patients. For more information visit Doximity.com.
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