Recent Trends in Academic Versus Nonacademic Radiologist Compensation and Clinical Productivity

Recent radiologist compensation and clinical productivity trends have not been well characterized, especially across academic versus nonacademic practice settings.

To assess recent trends in in financial compensation and clinical productivity between academic and nonacademic settings in diagnostic radiology (DR) and interventional radiology (IR).

We studied deidentified data from the Medical Group Management Association for both DR and IR physicians in academic and nonacademic practices from 2014 to 2023. Median, 25th and 75th percentiles, and mean values were analyzed for compensation, collections, and work relative value units (wRVUs). Compensation and productivity data were compared by radiology subspecialty (DR versus IR), practice type (academic versus nonacademic provider), geographical region of the United States, and practice size. Trends in absolute changes were analyzed with linear regression.

The Medical Group Management Association Survey data for 2023 included responses for 3,769 radiologists (2,883 in DR and 886 in IR). In 2023, nonacademic radiologists had greater total median compensation than academic faculty in both DR (by 27%) and IR (by 32%). From 2014 to 2023, median compensation increased faster for academic DR physicians (3.2% annually) than for nonacademic DR physicians (1.9% annually). In 2023, DR physicians produced greater median wRVUs than IR physicians (by 53% for nonacademic and 46% for academic radiologists) with higher collections, but IR physicians had higher compensation (by 16% in nonacademic and 10% in academic settings). Over the last decade, IR physician compensation increased by 3.9% and 3.4% annually for nonacademic and academic IR physicians, respectively, whereas median wRVUs trended downward (by -1.5% for nonacademic and -2.4% for academic physicians) with declining collections (by -4.4% annually for nonacademic and -2.1% for academic physicians).

Over the last decade, the salary gap between academic and nonacademic radiologists has narrowed. Physician compensation has increased at a faster pace in IR, despite relatively lower clinical productivity and declining collections.