The latest survey data from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA)calculates that primary care physicians earned an average of $182,322 in 2007. Specialty physicians overall earned $332,450…nearly twice as much as primary care docs.
Year-on-year, specialty physicians’ compensation rose .31% adjusted for inflation (3.16% without inflation).
Primary care doctors’ compensation increased 3.35% over inflation, or 6.3% without inflation. While it appears that primary care physicians gained marginally more as a percent than specialists, this increase followed several years of flat or declining comp.
Health Populi’s Hot Points: When policy makers consider health reforms, such as implementing pay-for-performance and the medical home concept, it’s important to stare numbers like these down. A fair question: “Should specialists garner nearly twice what primary care doctors earn in the U.S. health marketplace?” What is the value of primary care vs. specialty care?
One doctor’s pay-for-performance incentive may become another’s marginal income decline. This will not be a trivial issue in the coming years of health reform and remodeling care business models toward a health system, away from the sickness mode.
One of the best aspects of my work is collaborating across the health/care ecosystem to address how health citizens can deal with health care costs and and care for families. I'm grateful to have collaborated with Fidelity on their research into this issue, 
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I’m celebrating America’s 250th birthday both patriotically and professionally, honored that the NLM included my 2010 paper, “How Smartphones Are Changing Healthcare for Consumers and Patients” as one of 250 items curated for the digital archive of 250 Years of American Medicine.