Physician employment vs. private practice: 14 statistics on pay, satisfaction & more

Security or autonomy? The choice between employment and private practice is often painted in black and white terms, but the choice, and consequences, of any career path are rarely so simple. Here are 14 statistics on employed and private practice physician compensation and attitude towards the employed work setting.  

Compensation

•    The "MGMA Physician Placement Starting Salary Survey: 2014 Report Based on 2013 Data" found primary care physicians of hospital-owned practices earned a mean, first-year salary of $192,554, while those in a physician-owned practice earned $185,000, according to a Modern Medicine report.

•    The MGMA survey found specialist physicians earned a first-year salary of $300,000 in hospital-owned practices, while those in physician-owned practices earned $275,000.

•    46 percent of physicians became more satisfied with compensation after becoming employed, according to the Medscape Employed Doctors Report.

•    27 percent of physicians reported the same level of compensation satisfaction after becoming employed, while 26 percent became less satisfied, according to the Medscape report.

Independence

•    49 percent of employed physicians were satisfied with their level of autonomy at work, according to the Medscape report.
•    26 percent of employed physicians felt neutral about their level of autonomy at work.
•    25 percent of employed physicians were dissatisfied with their level of autonomy at work.

Employee or partner?

•    39 percent of employed physicians felt their input was considered when making important decisions, while 36 percent felt this was not the case, according to the Medscape report.
•    43 percent of employed physicians felt they were asked for their feedback, while 32 percent felt this was not the case.
•    41 percent of employed physicians felt management effectively communicated goals and objectives, while 32 percent felt this was not the case.
•    33 percent of employed physicians felt they were treated like a partner rather than an employee, 44 percent felt this was not the case.  

Physician perspective

•    64 percent of employed physicians would recommend employment, while 32 percent of private practice physicians would recommend employment, according to the Medscape report.
•    25 percent of employed physicians and 32 percent of private practice physicians have neutral feelings in regards to employment versus self-employment.
•    11 percent of employed physicians would be unlikely to recommend their career setting, while 37 percent of private practice physicians would be unlikely to recommend employment over self-employment.

Though migration to employment is trending noticeably upward, a physician's choice to become employed and reaction to the environment is subject to influence from myriad factors, from personality and employer to location and compensation structure.

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