2021 was a transitional year, with physicians still reeling from the financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fortunately, physicians’ average compensation rose and their financial prospects began to brighten, as noted in the Medscape Physician Wealth & Debt Report 2022.
Respondents’ comments in the survey and readers’ comments on the results humanize the trends affecting physicians’ family wealth and debt.
COVID’s Significant Impact
While 72% of physician respondents said they experienced no significant financial losses during 2021, that means more than one fourth did. One respondent called it “the worst financial year since my initial year of working.”
Most commonly, monetary hits related to medical practices. About 1 in 10 physicians reported business problems, reimbursement changes, or changes in practice situation in either private practice or employed settings.
“COVID-19 obviously resulted in my working fewer hours and seeing fewer patients,” wrote one respondent. “Since I’m paid based on RVUs, I took a significant hit in 2021 and am just starting to get back to normal numbers,” another said.
Many physicians lamented they are working fewer hours, not by choice.
“My hours were cut for well over a year,” one doctor wrote. “I used PTO hours toward my full-time pay.” Another physician experienced a cut in hourly pay plus…