Study Detects Fall in Doctors’ Real Income

Physicians’ incomes, among the highest in the U.S., dropped about $13,000 over eight years after inflation because of cuts in payments from Medicare and private insurance providers, a policy research group said Thursday.

Doctors earned 7% less in “real” income adjusted for inflation during 2003 compared with 1995, according to the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington. Researchers conducted polls of 42,600 physicians and compared their wages to those of other professionals, including lawyers, whose incomes increased 7%, the study said.

Medicare, the U.S. government health plan for the elderly and disabled, raised payment rates for physicians 13% during the eight years, the study said, citing the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

That lagged behind inflation of 21% and probably prompted some doctors to reduce the amount of free health and voluntary service they provide, the center said.

“Medicare payments are getting cut, the liability trends are increasing and the overhead is expanding,” said Larry Fields, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, a Leawood, Kan.-based organization.