Gender Pay Gap Tops $36K for New Physicians

A new study has found that male physicians earn more than their female counterparts, even at the onset of their career.

A new study, which was released ahead of print by Health Affairs, shows a growing disparity in pay between new male and female physicians.

For the study, researchers collected data between 1999 and 2017 from graduating residents from the New York Survey of Residents Completing Training from the Center for Health Workforce Studies of the University of Albany, State University. Using that data, the researchers found that, over that time period, the average starting compensation for men was $235,044 and $198,426 for women, a difference of more than $36,000. They also discovered that the gap widened over time, increasing from $7,700 in 1999.

While part of the pay gap could be explained due to analyzed variables—chosen specialty (40-55%), number of job offers (2-9%), hours worked (up to 7%), and work-life balance preferences (less than 1%)—researchers could not entirely explain the disparity.

“While it is apparent that women say they place a greater premium on control over work-life balance factors, this difference does not appear to explain the observed starting salary difference, conditional on other factors,” the researchers wrote. “There may nevertheless exist workplace biases, whether intentional or unintentional, that differentially affect women irrespective of their individual stated preferences for work-life balance.”

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

How to Handle Gender Bias at Your Medical Practice

If you want to build a better culture within your practice in 2020, these strategies can help you create a more inclusive workplace for your staff.

By Brooke Chaplan

Gender bias is not a simple topic. If you run a medical practice, you are probably already aware that cultural standards can have a negative impact on the way that your business is run. These strategies may help you create and maintain a more balanced workplace for your staff.

Implement Fair Hiring and Promotion Practices

The hiring process is the first and most obvious place where gender discrimination can occur. Although it is illegal to hire based on gender, unconscious bias can still influence employment decisions—especially if you run a large practice.

Take steps to hire based on accomplishments and qualifications first. Try reviewing resumes without the names attached so that you can objectively judge based on experience. During the actual interview process, bring in multiple members of the leadership team so that you can get a better understanding of how a candidate might fit in with your operation.

Create a Culture That Respects Degrees

Unconscious gender bias is an unfortunate reality in the medical industry. Although male and female doctors are equal in number, there is a tendency for parties of both genders to treat female physicians differently. They may be asked to do additional tasks for the practice, like planning meetings or after-work events, or they may simply be peppered with questions that interrupt their workday.

This problem is deeply rooted in culture and may not be easy to solve. In your individual practice, consider creating a standard of providing equal respect to people who have the same list of accomplishments. Physicians should not be in charge of cleaning up the office or hiring new staff members. Nurses have their own job duties and do not have time to fetch coffee or meeting notes. Delegate non-medical roles to members of your practice who have been hired to fill those positions.

Invest in Human Resources

As the leader of a medical practice, you can’t be expected to understand the full nuances of gender discrimination. Similarly, you can’t always watch for the ways that gender discrimination occurs both consciously and unconsciously.

A simple solution is to make sure that your human resources department is receiving an appropriate amount of funding. Whether you have an internal department or make use of an external company, take advantage of this valuable addition to your team.

Provide Legal Support

When gender discrimination does occur, you need to make sure that your practice is prepared to handle the situation. Look for a firm that provides gender discrimination law services and has experience working with the medical industry.

Although you may not need to keep your gender discrimination lawyer on retainer, it pays to have a good relationship with a firm that you know you can trust. Your lawyer may be able to answer specific questions and help you run your practice in a way that meets current legal recommendations.

Gender bias is slowly fading from society. As the owner or manager of a medical practice, you have a unique opportunity to create a positive and bias-free environment for the newest members of the field. Remain sensitive to gender issues, and remember that the effects of bias get in the way of the most important work: taking care of the patients.


Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

“Female Physicians Do Not Work as Hard,” Claimed Physician Now Facing Backlash

The statement, which was made in the Women in Medicine issue of the Dallas Medical Journal, has prompted viral levels of backlash across the internet.

Last week, Dr. Gary Tigges, an Internal Medicine physician in Plano, Texas, came under fire for a statement he made about the gender pay gap among physicians in the September edition of the Dallas Medical Journal.

Dr. Tigges’ statement was included as part of a two-page Big and Bright Ideas feature in the journal’s Women in Medicine issue, which asked physicians if they believe a pay gap exists between male and female physicians, and if so, what the cause may be, as well as what steps physicians can take to address this.

Dr. Tigges’ response read, “Yes, there is a pay gap. Female physicians do not work as hard and do not see as many patients as male physicians. This is because they choose to, or they simply don’t want to be rushed, or they don’t want to work the long hours. Most of the time, their priority is something else… family, social, whatever. Nothing needs to be “done” about this unless female physicians actually want to work harder and put in the hours. If not, they should be paid less. That is fair.”

Photos of his response quickly went viral and prompted backlash on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Yelp.

“Thank you for publicly displaying your disgusting thoughts on the value of women physicians in the workplace. Is this how you feel about your female patients too? That they don’t do enough? Or don’t try or work as hard because of social or personal commitments?” Dr. Hala Sabry-Elnaggar wrote in response to Tigges’ statement in a Facebook post displaying a photo of the letter. Her post went on to say, “Women physicians have been proven to put their skills into their work with better mortality outcomes and they continue to do this despite the discrimination more than 80% of them face at work. So please educate yourself beyond your medical degree about what your colleagues are doing… and how their presence is important to the healthcare team and to their patients,” and it was signed, “Sincerely, A woman physician who prioritizes her patients.”

Dr. Sabry-Elnaggar wasn’t the only one to speak out against Tigges’ statement; her post alone generated more than 1,200 comments and was shared more than 5,600 times.

Another Facebook post made by Dr. Jean Robey, which features the same image of Tigges’ statement as Dr. Sabry-Elnaggar’s, said, in part, “I trained and practice in an environment that treated my sex like a handicap I needed to own and account for. I was asked what disadvantage my sex was the first day and I was shocked to know I had one and only responded with my perceived disadvantage is my advantage because society and people like you discounted me and my contribution from day one. You would be pressed to find my compassion and intuition and empath and intellect in a male or in another to lay claim that I automatically underachieve or unaccomplished or undercontribute. I will never tolerate being paid less because I’m a woman or to accept the idea that women even with their other demands and roles shouldn’t be supported in medicine or any field to participate in the solution. I will never be unfair but it is bold to say sir that you can simply quantify the disparity in pay because of the disparity in contributions. You will grow to see that more times than not you needed a woman leading and helping. You wait till your loved ones fall ill or you are older and vulnerable. You will be quite remorseful to ever state such sentiments.”

Since its publication, Dr. Tigges has walked back his statement and claims it has been taken out of context, that he did not mean to imply women should earn less for equal work. “My response sounds terrible and horrible and doesn’t reflect what I was really trying to say,” Tigges said. “I’m not saying female physicians should be paid less, but they earn less because of other factors.”

Tigges also stated that he heard from “several trusted female physician colleagues who disagree with and are deeply hurt and offended” by his comments.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Where the Female Doctors Are

Of the 978,743 practicing physicians in the U.S., women only account for just over a third of them. We break down the states with the most and least.

When it comes to physicians, men clearly dominate the profession. According to recent data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, of the 978,743 practicing physicians in the United States, women only account for just over one-third of them (34.4%).

So, where are the female doctors? Below are the five states with the most and least female physicians in the United States, as well as how many there are and what percentage of practicing physicians they account for.

States with the Most Female Physicians

  1. California – 38,140 practicing female physicians, 35% of all physicians
  2. New York – 33,066 practicing female physicians, 38.5% of all physicians
  3. Texas – 21,072 practicing female physicians, 33.5% of all physicians
  4. Pennsylvania – 17,015 practicing female physicians, 35% of all physicians
  5. Florida – 16,221 practicing female physicians, 29.7% of all physicians

States with the Least Female Physicians

  1. Wyoming – 315 practicing female physicians, 26.9% of all physicians
  2. South Dakota – 564 practicing female physicians, 28.3% of all physicians
  3. North Dakota – 569 practicing female physicians, 29.4% of all physicians
  4. Montana – 635 practicing female physicians, 27.5% of all physicians
  5. Alaska – 677 practicing female physicians, 36.8% of all physicians

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Women (and Discrimination) in Healthcare

Despite women accounting for nearly 80% of all healthcare employees, they still face discrimination and barriers to advancement in the workplace, says a new report.

Healthcare is powered by women. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women account for 78.5% of the entire healthcare workforce. Still, the healthcare industry and the women employed by it, are not exempt from discrimination.

Rock Health, the first venture fund dedicated to digital health, recently released the results of their annual Women in Healthcare survey, in which they spoke to 635 women in healthcare about just that—being women in healthcare. The findings of the report indicate that women are pessimistic about achieving gender parity in their industry, that women led companies are better for morale, that African American women strongly believe racial discrimination is a barrier to career advancement, and more.

Here are some highlights from the report:

  • 55% of respondents believe it will take 25+ years to achieve gender parity in the workplace, with approximately 15% saying they believe it will take more than 50 years.
  • This lack of confidence may be tied to the fact that growth for women in positions of leadership has remained sluggish, or even declined, with women only accounting for 22.6% of board members and 21.9% of executives at Fortune 500 healthcare companies, up only 1.6% and 1.9%, respectively, since 2015, and women’s executive roles in hospitals seeing a decrease, down from 36.4% in 2015 to 34.5% in 2018.
  • Women in leadership roles, however, prove better for company morale. For survey respondents employed by companies with less than 10% women executives, the average rating of company culture was 5.5 out of 10, as opposed to companies with 50% or more women executives, which had an average rating of 8.6 out of 10.
  • Gender barriers weren’t the only things measured by the survey. Atop gender bias, 86% of African American women surveyed said their race is “very much” a barrier to career advancement, compared to just 9% of white women.
  • Among women of all races surveyed, 71.2% of women stated that they believe underselling skills is a significant barrier to career advancement.

The full survey results, including more facts and figures from the findings, can be viewed here.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Women More Likely to Survive a Heart Attack if Doctor is Female

Female doctors outperformed their male counterparts in regards to heart attack survival rates, as a whole, and particularly, for women heart attack survivors.

A new study published by the National Academy of Sciences has examined patient gender disparities in survival rates following acute myocardial infarctions, or heart attacks, based on the gender of the treating physician, and has found that not only are women less likely than men to survive traumatic health episodes, such as heart attacks, overall, but that mortality rates of women following a heart attack are lower, if they are treated by a female physician. The findings also indicate that the mortality rate of females who experienced a heart attack decrease, if they are treated by a male physician with more female colleagues, or if that male physician has treated a higher percentage of female patients in the past.

Brad Greenwood, Seth Carnahan, and Laura Huang examined two decades worth of records from Florida emergency rooms, including every patient who was admitted for a heart attack from 1991 through 2010. The records revealed women are more likely to die in the years following a heart attack, even when age was accounted for, when treated by male physicians, compared with either men treated by male physicians or women treated by female physicians. Overall, the research suggests that female physicians outperformed their male colleagues in regards to survival rates, and their patients were more likely to live.

“These results suggest a reason why gender inequality in heart attack mortality persists: Most physicians are male, and male physicians appear to have trouble treating female patients,” the researchers wrote.

According to the study, the survival rate for men with female physicians was 88.1%, compared to 86.6% for women with male physicians—even after the team accounted for elements such as the doctors’ experience, and the patients’ age, ethnicity, and other factors.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Physical Therapy and the Gender Pay Gap

Though typically a female-dominated industry, a new report indicates that women PTs are still paid less than their male counterparts.

Despite being widely disputed by non-believers, there is no shortage of data showing that the gender pay gap is alive and well, with women being paid just 80% of what men are paid, on average. It seems that holds true in the physical therapy profession, as well.

Though typically a female-dominated industry, the 2018 State of Rehab Therapy report from WebPT shows that females are still earning less than their male counterparts. This is despite females now outpacing males in all leadership categories, except C-level executive roles, in which men out-represent women by only 9%. As reported by therapists themselves, more than half of the therapists who responded to the report indicated their salaries fell into the range of $50,000 to $90,000, with nearly a third falling into the $60,000 to $80,000 range. However, men were more significantly represented in the $70,001+ salary range, and females were more significantly represented in the salary range below $70,000. These findings are on par with the latest U.S. Census data from 2016, which showed that within the physical therapy occupation, women earn only 87.6% of their male equivalents’ salaries.

With more females in places of leadership within therapy practices around the country, these numbers may shift, in time. However, it is projected by the American Association of University Women that, as a whole, the gender pay gap across all industries is not expected to be closed until 2119.

These numbers, however, do not seem to be upsetting therapists too much, overall. According to the report, more than 60% of therapists who responded agreed that they liked being a therapist, which may indicate that success and satisfaction cannot only be measured by numbers.

Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

The Striking Gender Gap in Doctors’ Pay

Nationally, female physicians make an average of 26.5 percent, or $91,000, less than male physicians.

from STAT

If you’re a doctor in Charlotte, N.C., you’re ideally situated to benefit from the highest pay in the health care business. There’s just one catch: If you want that big money, you can’t be a woman. That’s because the city also has the biggest gender wage gap in the nation. Female physicians in Charlotte make an average of 33 percent less than their male counterparts, a difference of $125,000 per year, according to a new report by the social media site Doximity.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

Female Docs Don’t Give Grand Rounds as Often as Men

The grand rounds podium is a coveted perch in medicine, a place where clinical leaders showcase their expertise—it’s also one women don’t reach as often as men.

from STAT

A new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine on Monday found that women are underrepresented as grand rounds lecturers in a wide range of clinical specialties. In a nationwide sample of medical schools and academic hospitals, a median of 26 percent of speakers were women. Meanwhile, women comprise 47 percent of medical students, 46 percent of residents, and 36 percent of faculty in the US.

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Disclaimer: The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.