With rare exceptions, white doctors and scientists are paid significantly more than women of all races and men of color, even after accounting for rank, specialty and degree. This is according to the first nationwide analysis of full-time academic medicine faculty salaries by gender, race and ethnicity. The analysis, based on the AAMC Annual Teacher Salary Survey, also found that, while gender was the primary driver of wage inequalities, black, indigenous and black teachers of color (BIPOC) also experienced inequalities in compensation even in departments and specialties with more diverse teachers. Gottlieb suggests that these wage disparities stem from long-standing gender biases that are built into compensation models for people in medicine and science. For example, women, and in particular women in BIPOC, spend disproportionately more time in organizational service such as serving on committees and working groups.
While this work is critical to institutions, it can take time away from activities that are more weighted in compensation models such as clinical work, granting grants or publishing research. The AAMC is constantly exploring ways to improve the residency application process by initiating its own research and supporting research led by others. HHS and DOJ issued guidance on non-discrimination in telehealth to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities and limited English proficiency. The GSA National Committee on Student Diversity Issues (COSDA) provides guidance on the diversity of medical students at the local, regional and national levels. The AAMC seeks to improve the integration of public health concepts into medical education and to improve and expand a diverse and culturally prepared workforce.
Black doctors
may choose not to pursue high-paying specialties because they are not attracted to them or because they want to start paying off their medical school debt more quickly or because of discrimination.Wage disparities may be due to doctors of different races caring for more low-income patients, which may be something they do of their own choice or it may have more to do with different opportunities. Medscape's Eighth Annual Medical Compensation Report compiled answers on the salaries of more than 20,000 U. S. doctors in dozens of medical specialties. The second data set, from a survey that tracked more than 17,000 doctors, did include information on specialties but there were a small number of black doctors overall.
He said he knows that black doctors like him tend to gravitate toward primary care fields which pay less than specialties such as surgery. The census data also did not contain information on whether the doctors were primary care physicians or specialists which could lead to an apple-to-orange comparison of specialists with primary care physicians. The survey found that doctors in Maryland also had average incomes at the bottom of the pay scale nationwide. The group found that women and racial minorities particularly African Americans were systematically paid less than men. A big caveat for any study of physician income is that neurosurgeons pediatricians and interventional cardiologists are all doctors but they are not paid the same. To increase the number of black doctors in the sample researchers used two sets of data most of the data on doctors' income taken from census data. For 40 percent of the doctors in the sample including nearly half of the white male doctors researchers had to estimate their income using median income above an upper threshold in each state.
White male physicians in the United States earn a whopping 35 percent more than their black counterparts even after taking into account factors such as medical specialty field experience and hours worked. Jena said the second analysis finds the same racial gaps as the first where white men earn more than blacks; women of both races earn less. Doctors in specialties make more money than primary care physicians and black doctors are underrepresented in specialties. What's more the average salary of doctors increased this year and the pay gaps between men and women and black and white doctors increased along with it. This comprehensive analysis has revealed that there is a significant wage gap between white male physicians and their black counterparts even after taking into account factors such as medical specialty field experience and hours worked. It has also highlighted how black doctors are underrepresented in specialties which pay higher wages than primary care fields. The AAMC is actively working towards improving diversity within medical education by initiating its own research supporting research led by others issuing guidance on non-discrimination in telehealth providing guidance on student diversity issues improving public health concepts integration into medical education and expanding a culturally sensitive diverse and prepared health workforce.
