Here are seven numbers to note about how physician pay compares to chief medical officer pay:
1. The 10 highest-earning average annual physician specialties by compensation, according to Medscape's "Physician Compensation Report 2022":
- Plastic surgery: $576,000
- Orthopedics and orthopedic surgery: $557,000
- Cardiology: $490,000
- Otolaryngology: $469,000
- Urology: $461,000
- Gastroenterology: $453,000
- Dermatology: $438,000
- Radiology: $437,000
- Ophthalmology: $417,000
- Oncology: $411,000
2. Primary care physicians earned an average of $260,000 in 2022, with specialists earning an average of $368,000, according to the Medscape report.
3. Physician pay decreased for four specialties from 2021 to 2022 — interventional cardiology, hematology, radiology and pediatrics — and increased for eight specialties — OB-GYN, anesthesiology, non-invasive cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, orthopedic surgery, urology and internal medicine.
4. The average salary of a chief medical officer in the U.S. is $447,344 per year, according to a March 28 report from salary.com.
5. The bottom 10 percent of CMOs make $341,090 annually.
6. The top 10 percent of CMOs earn $587,024 each year.
7. Typical yearly earnings for CMOs range from $391,726 to $520,457.