Compensation for all advanced practice provider types, including nurse practitioners and physician assistants, increased by 6.6 percent over 2017, and median primary care physician compensation was flat compared to last year, according to strategic consulting firm ECG's 2018 Physician Compensation Survey.
The survey findings are based on responses from over 27,534 physicians and 7,511 APPs, with benchmarks for 109 physician specialties and 15 APP types.
Three other survey findings:
1. Notable increases included surgical physician assistants' compensation, which increased by 6.3 percent.
2. About 80 percent of physicians are paid under a type of variable compensation plan, or compensation determined by employee performance. This finding shows the market is generally not moving toward straight-salary plans, the survey authors said.
3. Quality metrics and patient satisfaction scores are the main nonproduction incentive metrics used for physician compensation plans, with 65 percent of organizations using quality metrics and 40 percent using patient satisfaction scores.