51 Statistics on Physician Salaries vs. Hospital Revenue Generated

By Bob Herman for Becker’s Hospital Review

Although primary care physicians bring in more net revenue to the average hospital, their compensation still lags behind those in several medical and surgical specialties.

Last week, physician consulting firm Merritt Hawkins released its “2013 Physician Inpatient/Outpatient Revenue Survey.” Merritt Hawkins received responses from 102 hospital and health system CFOs. The CFOs indicated the combined net inpatient and outpatient revenue generated annually for their facilities by a single, full-time equivalent physician across several specialties.

Revenue was represented by procedures performed at the hospital, tests and treatments ordered and other factors. (For primary care physicians, hospital CFOs were asked to determine revenue generated from direct admissions, procedures performed, lab tests, etc., but not from indirect revenue primary care physicians may have generated from patient referrals to specialists utilizing the hospital.)

On average, a family practice physician brought in $2.07 million of annual net revenue to his or her hospital, only behind orthopedic surgeons and invasive cardiologists, but family practice physicians’ compensation was far lower. An orthopedic surgeon generated an average of $2.68 million per hospital, and average orthopedic surgeon compensation was $519,000 — meaning that for every $5.17 of revenue an orthopedic surgeon brought it, he or she received $1 in compensation. Family physicians saw $1 of compensation for every $10.94 of generated revenue, the widest gap of any specialty.

Otolaryngologists had the slimmest revenue-to-compensation ratio, as they earned $1 of pay for every $2 of revenue they brought into the hospital. Ophthalmologists, neurologists and neurosurgeons were not far behind.

Here are 51 statistics across 17 specialties on physician-generated hospital revenue, hospital salaries for physician and their corresponding revenue-to-compensation ratios based on data from Merritt Hawkins’ “2013 Physician Inpatient/Outpatient Revenue Survey.” Data is sorted by specialties that generated the most hospital revenue. To compare to 2010 data, click here.

Orthopedic surgeons
Median 2013 revenue: $2,683,510
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $519,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 5.17:1

Cardiologists (invasive)
Median 2013 revenue: $2,169,643
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $512,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 4.24:1

Family practice physicians
Median 2013 revenue: $2,067,567
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $189,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 10.94:1

General surgeons
Median 2013 revenue: $1,860,655
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $343,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 5.42:1

Internal medicine physicians
Median 2013 revenue: $1,843,137
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $203,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 9.08:1

Hematologists/medical oncologists
Median 2013 revenue: $1,761,029
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $360,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 4.89:1

Neurosurgeons
Median 2013 revenue: $1,684,523
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $669,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 2.52:1

Obstetricians/gynecologists
Median 2013 revenue: $1,439,024
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $268,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 5.37:1

Urologists
Median 2013 revenue: $1,428,030
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $461,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 3.10:1

Gastroenterologists
Median 2013 revenue: $1,385,714
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $433,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 3.20:1

Psychiatrists
Median 2013 revenue: $1,302,631
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $224,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 5.82:1

Cardiologists (noninvasive)
Median 2013 revenue: $1,232,142
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $396,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 3.11:1

Pulmonologists
Median 2013 revenue: $1,009,868
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $321,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 3.15:1

Otolaryngologists
Median 2013 revenue: $825,757
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $412,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 2.00:1

Pediatricians
Median 2013 revenue: $787,790
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $189,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 4.17:1

Ophthalmologists
Median 2013 revenue: $725,000
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $295,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 2.46:1

Neurologists
Median 2013 revenue: $691,406
Median 2012 hospital compensation: $280,000
Revenue-to-compensation ratio: 2.47:1