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ID physician compensation data

Following a comprehensive review of existing ID physician compensation data, comparative data from other specialties and industry trends, the Physician Compensation Task Force developed and administered a supplemental compensation survey to the IDSA membership.

The goal of the survey was to gather additional, targeted data to further define and clarify the relationship between ID physicians’ services and compensation received. Specifically, the survey aimed to better define a “1.0 FTE” in actual hours worked; identify compensation plans across employment settings; determine annual compensation and percentage of compensation tied to incentives (quality or production); clarify administrative job titles and their allotted versus actual time commitment; and quantify the number of days on services, on average, that is tied to compensation for inpatient availability.

A high-level summary of findings is provided below.

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Annual hours worked by employment type

Most full-time ID physicians work more than 2,300 annually. Compared to a standard definition of a 1.0 FTE (2,000 hours), ID physicians at the median appear to be working as much as 30% more than their non-ID peers. 

An ID physician incentivized for quality tends to earn more regardless of years of experience, although the impact on compensation decreases as a physician has practiced for 21 years and longer. 

Quality incentives and administrative roles

ID physicians with at least one administrative role receive higher compensation than those without administrative roles, although compensation materially increases for those who also have quality incentives. 

Physician compensation benchmarks

  • Over the past three years, the largest increases have occurred at the median and 25th percentiles, indicating a compression in compensation across ID as lower paid physicians are pulled up to more standardized compensation levels and frameworks.

  • Notably, the increase in median compensation slightly outpaced the overall market for physicians, while ID production (as measured by WRVUs) remained relatively flat over the same period.

  • IDSA's most recent proprietary survey shows the provider and compensation plan attributes that correlate most directly with higher compensation packages include:
     
    • The presence of incentives tied to clinical quality or outcomes
    • The presence of Incentives tied to clinical production
    • Formally recognized clinical leadership roles
    • Physicians covering multiple hospitals when on call

  • When the national surveys are released covering 2025 data, we anticipate the new add-on code, G0545, will result in a material increase in production for ID groups who have embraced it, and should have a direct impact to compensation for private ID practitioners or employed clinicians on a production-based plan.

Compensation for ID, antimicrobial stewardship and infection control

MD Ranger is a company that provides benchmarks and analysis on physician contracts; its proprietary database provides information on the specific terms of agreements between health facilities and physicians for emergency call coverage, medical direction and other leadership positions.

For reports from MD Ranger, "P" stands for "providers" and refers to the number of health care systems on which the report is based; "F" stands for "facilities" and refers to the number of hospital facilities. Therefore, some figures may represent data from several facilities within the same health care system.