Staffing & Compensation
Latest Takeaways
Labor needs vary by state and California, Pennsylvania and Texas are expected to have the highest overall surpluses of healthcare workers, while New York could have a deficit of more than 61,000 workers."
Executive Summary
Updated: October 4, 2024
- Healthcare employment rose across all sectors in July but only hiring at hospitals beat two-year averages. Overall healthcare hiring and job growth in the ambulatory healthcare services and nursing and residential care facilities sectors increased but at a slower rate than their two-year averages, mirroring the slowdown seen in the wider job market.
- Median physician compensation across all specialties is $467,198 according to Modern Healthcare's 2024 Physician Compensation survey. That's a 7.9% increase over 2023's median of $433,066.
Those in orthopedic, invasive cardiology, plastic surgery and urology practices receive the highest compensation, on average, ranging from $489,000 to $789,298 annually, while those practicing pediatric and family medicine make the least, between $244,000 and $326,661 a year. - The pay gap between healthcare CEOs and other executives in the C-suite increased in 2023, according to the SullivanCotter Annual Executive Compensation survey. Overall, CEO pay was about $958,000 more than next highest paid position.
Among other executives, chief medical officers have had the highest average total compensation in smaller health systems (net revenue less than $1 billion) since 2021. That bucks a trend where chief operating officers have had the second highest average compensation overall and among medium and large systems.
Related News
Overall Healthcare Employment
Seasonally adjusted total, in thousands
Employment by Healthcare Sector
Seasonally adjusted total by month (Numbers are in thousands)
Physician Compensation
Understanding the Data
For more than a decade, Modern Healthcare has surveyed firms who collect information about compensation for a variety of specialites. For each speciality a firm tracks, they report the average compensation.
Not all firms participate each year, nor do they always track every speciality. Additionally, some new specialites of note, such as Infectious Disease Specialist, have been recently added and data may not be available for all years.
Physician Compensation Database
Source: Modern Healthcare's annual physician compensation survey.
Executive Compensation, Health Systems
Average total compensation for key positions, all revenue levels. ($ in thousands)
Executive Compensation Levels
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Modern Healthcare Data & Insights is produced by Tim Broderick, Sam McBroom, Michael Palazuk, and the Modern Healthcare editorial staff. All data and information are the property of Modern Healthcare and other sources where cited and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. All rights are reserved by Modern Healthcare. Data and information may not be resold, republished, redistributed, sublicensed, or publicly displayed without the permission of Modern Healthcare.