LocumTenens.com’s 2020 Report Finds Advanced Practice Salary Surged
Sixty-one percent of clinicians unsure or do not think the U.S. is better prepared for future waves of COVID-19
Alpharetta, Ga., December 7, 2020—LocumTenens.com, a leading physician and advanced practitioner staffing agency, released its 2020 Physician and Advanced Practice Salary Report. The report details the average salary of permanently employed physicians and advanced practitioners from 2019 and explores in detail the demographics of clinicians across 17 different specialties. This year, the report also examines employment trends amid the pandemic, clinicians’ thoughts on a second wave of COVID-19, patient misinformation about the virus and more.
While the average physician salary held steady from 2018 to 2019, only dropping by about $4,000, advanced practitioners reported a steep increase in salary of $17,000 on average. Psychiatric nurse practitioners, nurse anesthetists, physician assistants working in primary care and nurse practitioners working in primary care saw an increase in salary on average between 2018 and 2019. However, physician assistants and nurse practitioners working in emergency medicine experienced a decrease in salary on average. Significantly, most physician and advanced practitioner respondents reported being employed by a hospital.
Another goal of the survey was to discover clinicians’ perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected employment trends. When asked whether they believe the United States will be better prepared for another wave of COVID-19 this winter, 61% were either unsure or did not believe the country would be better prepared. Among their top concerns are a lack of federal leadership, inconsistent guidelines and people becoming complacent and no longer following social distancing protocols or taking the virus seriously.
When asked how they had been professionally impacted by the virus, 24% of physicians and advanced practitioners disclosed being either furloughed or laid off at some point during the pandemic. While 38% of those physicians and advanced practitioners had been hired back by the same employer, 22% have remained unemployed. Twenty-one percent are now working on a locum tenens basis. Seventy-four percent of those surveyed who did not work on a locum tenens basis during 2019 would consider locum tenens work in the future for reasons including more flexibility (37%), more time with family and friends (21%) and to phase into retirement (16%) and avoid burnout (16%). Some also said they would consider it due to COVID-19 so they could have the ability to safely treat patients via telehealth.
The 2020 Physician and Advanced Practice Salary Report was written based on the results of a survey fielded in September 2020. Invitations for the survey were emailed to a database of more than 220,000 healthcare professionals. Some recipients had been placed by LocumTenens.com, and some had not. There was a total of 2,080 respondents who were self-selected and spanned all 50 states. Compensation results consist of only full-time, permanent employees and consider only annual salary and bonuses.
About LocumTenens.com
LocumTenens.com specializes in the temporary placement of physicians, advanced practitioners, and psychologists at healthcare facilities across the U.S. through onsite and telehealth services. As the industry’s most-visited job board, LocumTenens.com helps healthcare organizations connect with the medical professionals they need to ensure patients have access to quality care. Founded in 1995, LocumTenens.com is a leader in the healthcare staffing industry, helping place clinicians who deliver care to more than seven million patients in over 2,400 healthcare facilities in the U.S. LocumTenens.com is a Jackson Healthcare® company. Learn more at http://www.locumtenens.com/about.
For LocumTenens.com media inquiries, please contact Deb Zelnio at zelnio@locumtenens.com.