PAs See Modest Bump in Compensation

Pay for Physician Assistants (PAs) is on the rise according to Medscape‘s 2024 Compensation Report. The average PA earned around $142,000, up about $8000 from the previous year. The average 6% jump followed a 4% increase a year earlier.

The report included survey data from 2007 practicing PAs — 64% women, 36% men — across 29 specialties, who were recruited between November and December 2023.

Pay satisfaction, which had diminished since the COVID-19 pandemic, also rose: 53% of PAs surveyed said they were being paid fairly vs 50% a year earlier. The figure still fell short of the 74% reported in Medscape‘s 2020 report.

Blake Moser, CEO of MedicalRecruiting.com in Tyler, Texas, said the market now favors job seekers as a result of the rapid firing and rehiring that occurred during and after the pandemic.

“PAs realigned their careers to gravitate to the medical specialties with patients they enjoyed working with and decided they weren’t going to change jobs unless the pay was significantly better,” Moser told Medscape Medical News. 

“New graduates are turning down jobs on the lower end of the pay scale, knowing there is another job [offer] just around the corner,” said Stephanie Doty, national director of Healthcare Recruiters International in Los Angeles.

Pay gains were higher among PAs working in the operating room (8%), emergency department (9%), and acute care clinics (8%) than in medical offices and clinics (5%). PAs in the operating room, emergency room, acute care clinics, and miscellaneous settings such as concierge medicine received higher average salaries ($156k, $152k, $146k, and $145k, respectively) than those in medical offices ($136k), the report found.

Pay increases from 2023 were slightly higher in urban and rural areas (6% and 7%) vs suburban and exurban communities (4% each), but Doty cautioned that urban areas may be so well served that compensation won’t necessarily match the higher cost of living.

“Let’s say you’re in Chicago. Employers there can get away with a little less because they have so many candidates,” she said.

Nearly 60% of PAs saw their compensation increase in 2023, while 41% said their pay plateaued or decreased since 2022.

Family medicine, emergency medicine, and orthopedics ranked highest among preferred specialties among survey respondents.

“I generally tell PAs they’ll make more money the higher the stress level,” Moser said. However, he listed high-revenue settings such as dermatology offices, and functional medicine, and cash-pay practices, as exceptions.

Compensation structures that include salary plus bonuses based on patient satisfaction, volume, and other factors, held the most earning potential for PAs, offering an average of $153k per year. Clinicians paid hourly earned an average of $143k per year whereas those on salary earned $138k per year.

Packages that include performance bonuses may offer the highest overall compensation, but PAs should find out whether the incentives included are attainable, said Doty. “Does the practice have enough patients for you to [achieve them]? How many other PAs are hitting their target?” she said.

A gender pay gap persists within the field. Salaried male PAs earned on average about 10% more than than their female counterparts; for those paid hourly, the gap was around 14%.

Earning potential plateaued once PAs reach a certain level of experience. Most clinicians saw their salary jump the most — around 14% on average — in their second 5 years of work, after which it tended to level off.

The vast majority of PAs worked for a medical group or hospital system, with only 8% being self-employed or operating as independent contractors. Medical practices like are typically the most lucrative settings because physicians “have a good idea of how much PAs can make for the practice and can leverage more money for them,” Doty said.

Clinicians with a certificate of added qualifications earned $1000 more per year than those without the credential.

Finally, clinicians on the West Coast earned the highest salaries, which may reflect both the higher cost of living and workplace supply and demand. However, these markets may be already saturated, Doty said.

Brittany Vargas is a medicine, mental health, and wellness journalist.