A study in the Oct. 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine compared wages across broad and narrow categories of physician specialties. The cross-sectional study analyzed data from 6,381 physicians providing patient care in the 2004-2005 Community Tracking Study. Results show that wages for surgery, internal medicine, pediatric subspecialties and other specialties were higher than for primary care specialties.
Reuters Health reports that doctors earned an average annual income of $187,857, working about 53 hours per week and 47 weeks per year. Adjusting for work hours, surgeons had the highest average hourly wage of $92, and primary care physicians had the lowest wage of about $60 an hour. Among 41 specific subspecialties, neurologic surgeons were the highest paid at $132 per hour.
