How much do dermatologists make?

Every dermatologist should know how to answer this question. Not only to advise medical students interested in entering the dermatology field, but to ensure their own pay is in line with salary trends.  Don’t get left behind!  Looking up salary data isn’t considered snooping. It is important to keep tabs on the data to ensure that owners and partners are keeping in trend with your peers. And if you are hiring or interviewing, knowing salary data will help you determine what is a fair salary to offer or accept.

There are several elements that are factored into calculating a dermatologist’s pay range, including:

1. Location (urban, rural, suburban)

2. Type of practice (solo practice, multispecialty practice, single-specialty practice, academic institution, health care system employee)

3. Role in practice (e.g. owner, partner vs. employee)

4. Patient population

5. Hours worked

6. Work experience

As you probably guessed, urban practices tend to have higher salaries because the cost of living is higher in urban centers.  Owners of solo practices also tend to have higher salaries — there are fewer employees/partners to share the pie with, but also more administrative and marketing responsibilities. Beyond these factors we are finding that more and more dermatologists’ salaries and incentives (bonuses) are being tied to productivity (quantity of care) and patient satisfaction or patient outcomes (quality of care).

As changes in MACRA take hold and and Quality Payment Programs are implemented in providers working with Medicare, physician efficiency of care will likely be an increasingly dominant factor in determining salaries for all providers.

There is data out there. So stay connected and know your stats:

• Medscape survey - Provides a snapshot of medical professionals lifestyle, including questions of burnout, satisfaction with income, and savings. The questions are broken down by gender, race, and often by speciality.

• Merritt Hawkins - Provides an overview of recruiting incentives for physicians in 2016 as well as compensation data by specialty.