A growing need for specialty physicians has resulted in salary increases for many providers, radiologists among them, according to the latest data from Merritt Hawkins’ 2022 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives.
The report placed radiologists’ annual compensation 6th among the top 10 highest physician salaries, at $455,000 per year. This is up 12% from the 2020/2021 figure of $401,000.
Tom Florence, AMN Healthcare’s president of physician permanent placement, suggests that the widespread salary and compensation boosts can be attributed, in part, to an aging population that requires more specialist care and to the tremendous backlog of patients who had their care delayed due to the strain that COVID put on the healthcare system.
“Demand for physicians, and the salaries they are offered, have rebounded dramatically from the height of COVID-19," Florence said in a statement. "Virtually every hospital and large medical group in the country is looking to add physicians."
Radiologists appear to benefit from the growing demand for telemedicine and, compared to many specialties, they have an advantageous hand in terms of access and the ability to adapt the profession to a remote environment as needed. This was evident in the report’s search engagements—18% of searches pertaining to radiology were seeking teleradiologists specifically.
Additional insights from the review include increased inquiries from academic medical centers (up 20% from the year prior) and nurse and/or advanced practitioners, and a drop in primary care provider search engagements (down 18% from one year ago).
The detailed review can be downloaded for free here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She joined Innovate Healthcare in 2021 and has since put her unique expertise to use in her editorial role with Health Imaging.