One of the largest objective studies on Medicare pay disparity between male and female physicians has found female physicians were reimbursed $18,677.23 less than their male colleagues in 2012, and were paid less across 13 specialties, according to a report recently published in the Postgraduate Medical Journal.
Of the 13 specialties, nephrology ($16,688.96 pay differential), rheumatology ($15,405.54 differential) and pulmonary medicine ($11,017.79 differential) had the worst disparity in reimbursement. The narrowest gaps were found for hematology ($10,115.08 differential), critical care ($4,360.05 differential) and medical oncology ($3,970.50 differential).
The study, conducted by researchers from North Carolina, focused on objective and non-self-reported data from Medicare on more than 3 million publicly available reimbursement claims received by male and female physicians across 13 medical specialties in 2012.
In the unadjusted analysis, the overall reimbursement differential for female physicians was $34,125.68 less than their male counterparts, and they earned less in 11 of the 13 specialties.
The study adjusted for factors that have been suggested as reasons for gender pay inequality, such as the number of hours worked, productivity and years of experience. While the study cannot draw conclusions about what exactly accounts for the disparity, the findings show that "the commonly held theories of why monetary disparities exist need to be revisited," the authors wrote.
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