MEDICARE DOCTOR SALARY RATES: Would Cut Pay 3%

Posted on July 21, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Orthopedic doctors and surgeons earn on average 558 thousand U.S. dollars annually. This makes Orthopedic doctors and surgeons the most well-compensated physicians in the United States as of 2024, followed by plastic surgeons. Plastic surgeons were, by far, the highest earning physicians in the U.S. in 2023. An orthopedic physician specializes in injuries and diseases involving bones, muscles, joints, nerves and other parts of the musculoskeletal system.

Although orthopedic doctors and surgeons have the highest average annual salary, from 2023 to 2024 their compensation actually decreased by 3 percent. In comparison, compensation for physicians specialized in physical medicine and rehabilitation increased 11 percent during this time, while plastic surgeons saw the largest decrease of 13 percent. The region with the highest annual compensation for physicians was West North Central in 2024, with physicians earning some 404 thousand U.S. dollars in this region.

There are currently around 29.2 active physicians per 10,000 people in the U.S. Around 29 percent of physicians in the U.S. are aged between 56 and 65 years, while only 11 percent are 35 years or younger. The vast majority of physicians are employed by hospitals or groups and work an average of 51 hours per week.

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Medicare Rates in 2025 Would Cut Pay For Docs by About 3%

And so, Federal officials on July 11th proposed Medicare rates that effectively would cut physician pay by about 3% in 2025, touching off a fresh round of protests from medical associations. The 2025 draft base rate, or conversion factor, is slated to drop to $32.36 from the current level of $33.29, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said.

This proposed cut is mostly due to the 5-year freeze in the physician schedule base rate mandated by the 2015 Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). Congress designed MACRA with an aim of shifting clinicians toward programs that would peg pay increases to quality measures.

Source: Kerry Dooley Young, MD Edge [7/11/25]

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Surgeon to Pay $5 Million for Restriction of Negative Reviews

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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A Non-Disclosure Agreement (or “NDA”) is an agreement under which a party (the “Recipient”) agrees not to disclose proprietary and confidential information (“Confidential Information”) that it receives from another party (the “Owner”).

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Surgeon to Pay $5 Million for Restriction of Negative Reviews, Directing Fake Reviews

A Seattle plastic surgeon who illegally restricted patients from posting negative reviews about his practice and directed his staff to post fake positive reviews will pay $5 million for violating Washington state’s consumer protection law. According to a July 1 consent decree, Javad Sajan, MD, and his practice Allure Esthetic must pay $1.5 million in restitution to 21,000 patients and $3.5 million to the state for manipulation of patient ratings.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

FTC: https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2022/09/should-we-trust-online-reviews

The settlement resolves a federal lawsuit brought by Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson that accused the doctor of illegally suppressing patients’ negative reviews by “forcing” them to sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) before they received care. In an April decision, US District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez sided with the state, ruling that Allure Esthetic’s actions violated the federal Consumer Review Fairness Act (CRFA).

Source: Alicia Gallegos,MD Edge [7/10/24]

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PHYSICIAN PAYMENTS: Drug and Device Makers

Posted on April 10, 2024 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters

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Physicians Received $12 Billion from Drug & Device Makers in Less Than 10 Years

A review of the federal Open Payments database found that the pharmaceutical and medical device industry paid physicians $12.1 billion over nearly a decade. Almost two thirds of eligible physicians — 826,313 doctors — received a payment from a drug or device maker from 2013 to 2022, according to a study published online in JAMA on March 28th. Overall, the median payment was $48 per physician.

CITE: https://www.r2library.com/Resource

Orthopedists received the largest amount of payments in aggregate, $1.3 billion, followed by neurologists and psychiatrists at $1.2 billion, and cardiologists at $1.29 billion. To find out what any physician was paid, click here.

Source: Alicia Ault, MD Edge [4/3/24]

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