Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The EMN Salary Survey

2023; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins; Volume: 45; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1097/01.eem.0000927192.61500.48

1552-3624

Madison Spencer,

Healthcare Policy and Management

Income dropped for all EPs in 2022, but the decline was slightly steeper for womenFigure: salary, EPs, contract management groups, locum tenensThese past few years have been tougher, financially speaking, for most EPs, and apparently what they want doesn't always end up being what they get, according to data from the 2022 EMN salary survey. Annual income dropped for male and female EPs in 2022, but the decline was slightly steeper for women than for men. Male EPs made $257,092 on average last year, a 14 percent decrease from $299,108 in our 2017 salary survey, but female EPs earned $203,864, a 20 percent drop compared with the average of $255,547 five years ago. But it's not all bad news because the average hourly rate data paint a somewhat different picture: Both male and female EPs earned more per hour in 2022 than they did in 2017—$202 versus $195 and $188 versus $175, respectively. It's still true that the gender pay gap widens as salary gets higher, but women have started to pull even with men in the middle ranges when we look at the two datasets. Take the $175,000-$200,000 range as an example: 51 percent of women and 49 percent of men fall in this range compared with 33 percent of women and 67 percent of men in 2017. At the next step up, $200,001-$225,000, we see 46 percent of female EPs and 54 percent of male EPs, a more equal distribution between the genders than the 28 percent female and 72 percent male breakdown we observed in the last survey. The income disparities between the two groups are more pronounced at higher career levels, though there is less money going into everyone's pocket than in 2017 and leadership positions don't seem to translate into bigger paychecks anymore for either sex. Female EPs get $217,304 in pay in 2022 compared with $269,818 five years before, while male EPs bring home $276,605 compared with $305,319 in 2017. For emergency medicine residency directors, women earn $188,568 in 2022 versus $293,750 and men report $231,322 versus $265,394. The situation is similar for ED chiefs and directors: Women make $232,712 in 2022 as opposed to $340,000 in 2017 and their male colleagues said their average salary is $275,623 compared with $325,541 before. What about employer type and locale? Slightly more EPs now work for independent emergency physician groups at 35 percent compared with 33 percent in 2017. The number of EPs who work locum tenens also went up to six percent from two percent before. On the flip side, EPs continue to lean away from hospitals and health care systems, which is a trend we saw in our previous survey. About 35 percent of EPs say they are employed by a hospital or health care system in 2022 versus 39 percent in 2017. And contract management groups have similarly become a bit less popular among EPs, with 24 percent saying they work for one last year as opposed to 26 percent five years earlier. But everybody is making less ployer type. EPs who work for hospitals and health care systems say their average income is $259,869 in 2022, down from $266,278 in 2017. CMG employees now earn $238,645 on average, a lot less than $307,390 in 2017, while EPs who are part of independent groups make $218,939, compared with $302,440 five years earlier. Earnings are especially lean among locum tenens folks nowadays at $164,225 versus $329,762 before. Our data show urban EDs have replaced suburban ones as the locale of choice for most EPs. Close to 52 percent of our survey respondents said they practice in an urban facility in 2022, while 36 percent did the same in 2017. Now only 31 percent of EPs work in a suburban setting, compared with 45 percent in our last survey. Slightly fewer EPs are in rural EDs now, with 15 percent saying they practice there versus 17 percent before. The number of EPs who provide care in remote areas has remained largely the same (2% in 2022 and 1% in 2017). Turning our attention to how salary has changed in different types of hospitals, income once again appears to be following a downward trajectory in all settings. Previously in second place with $298,520 in 2017, EPs who practice at hospitals and health systems now have the highest average salary of the group (but still a 10 percent drop from the average before) at $267,314. The second highest paid group are freestanding ER employees, who occupied the number one spot in our last survey with $308,472, and now report making 21 percent less at $244,994 in 2022. They are followed by those in academia (who were also in third place five years ago) with earnings of $196,075, a 22 percent decrease from $251,455. Critical care folks used to make more than physicians in urgent care, but they have traded places. EPs in urgent care say they make $181,443, an eight percent drop from $197,556, while the average for critical care went down to $168,202 from $205,000, an 18 percent decrease. We'll leave you with an ironic tidbit about how the way EPs view salary affects their earnings. Those who say they will accept a lower salary for the job and lifestyle they want actually end up with the highest salary at $258,844. And EPs who say they want to be paid fairly but value their job and lifestyle equally have an average income of $256,479. But those who want the highest pay possible and considers job and lifestyle as secondary: $185,875. Next month: Part 3: How did COVID-19 affect EP salaries? We'll cross-reference salary data with hours spent seeing patients and doing paperwork, salary changes during the pandemic, and raises by employer. We are also publishing all of the salary survey articles ahead of print in our enews. Sign up for the enews (totally free!) at http://bit.ly/EMNenewsSignup. Ms. Spenceris a freelance writer in New York City.