Physicians experienced a pay increase of 1.6 percent on average in 2012 — far below the average 2.8 percent raise in 2011, according to the American Medical Group Association's 2013 compensation and financial survey.
Primary care physicians reported the largest increases in compensation with an average raise of 2.8 percent, but this was still lower than the 4 percent increase recorded in 2011. Surgical specialties only reported a 0.5 percent pay increase last year compared with 3.4 percent in 2011.
The specialties that recorded the largest increases in compensation last year were endocrinology (5.81 percent), infectious disease (5.64 percent), rheumatology (4.89 percent) and anesthesiology (4.6 percent).
Despite the lower compensation raises, medical groups and other physician organizations said they generally broke even in 2012. This compares with 2011, when the median operating margin was negative $1,235 per physician.
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