Physicians seeking jobs after coming out of residency programs will be happy to know that their starting salaries are not as fixed as they might have expected.  Statistics show that physician salaries are on the rise.  The Medical Group Management Association, or MGMA, conducted a survey with 3,520 physicians and discovered in 2008 starting salaries went up for several specialties from the year prior.  The following five specialties exhibited the biggest changes in starting salaries, these major increases being from 10%-15%:

• Neurology: $200,000 to $230,000 – up 15%
• Non-invasive cardiology: $350,000 to $400,000 – up 14.29%
• Anesthesiology: $275,000 to $312,500 – up 13.64%
• Emergency medicine: $192,000 to $215,040 – up 12%
• Internal medicine: $150,000 to $165,000 – up 10%

While these numbers do not reflect salary increases for all specialties, one cannot help but feel optimistic.  The 10% rise in Internal Medicine salaries is encouraging enough, indicating that there might be hope for physician salaries in specialties that are normally lower such as Family Practice, Geriatrics and Pediatrics.

An article from the Wall Street Journal Health blog by Jacob Goldstein stated that nearly half of the family medicine residency slots in the U.S. went to foreign medical students and American medical students who graduated in previous years, while only 42% went to American medical students graduating in 2008.  In fact 9% of the residency slots for this specialty went unfilled.  It’s clear from these numbers that there is a shortage of family practitioners in the U.S.   The article goes on to compare the statistic that 84% of anesthesiology residency slots were filled in 2008 by American medical students graduating that year, and 15% of anesthesiology residency slots were filled by American medical students graduating in previous years.  Only 1% of the residency slots were not filled for anesthesiology.

With a growing shortage of family practitioners and primary care providers, we are bound to see more increases in physician salaries in the coming years.  We remain hopeful that primary care physicians will start making the kind of money they deserve so that our medical students are, once again, encouraged to pursue an area of medicine that every person needs.