According to an annual report from healthcare recruiting firm AMN Healthcare, orthopedic surgeons were offered the highest starting salary among medical professionals in 2022, at $565,000 plus sign-on bonuses and incentives.
The report, "2022 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives," is produced by AMN's physician search division, Merritt Hawkins, and analyzes physician and advanced practitioner starting salaries and incentives based on the firm's searches conducted from April 1, 2021, to March 31.
Orthopedic surgeons' starting salary is up from 2021's report stating they made around $546,000 to start.
The report also showed that the average starting salaries are up from last year for most medical professionals.
Urologist salaries were up to $510,000 this year from $497,000 last year. Gastroenterologists were up to $474,000 from $453,000.
This increase in salary could partially be a result of increased demand for procedures as doctors work through backlogs of surgical appointments that were put off during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Demand for physicians, and the salaries they are offered, have rebounded dramatically from the height of COVID-19," said Tom Florence, president of physician permanent placement for AMN Healthcare, in a July 18 press release. "Virtually every hospital and large medical group in the country is looking to add physicians."
The report also says demand for medical specialists is on the rise.
Sixty-four percent of the company's search engagements during the study period were for specialists, while only 17 percent were for primary care physicians. The remaining 19 percent were for advanced practitioners such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants.