Here are five numbers demonstrating the impact of inflation on physicians and their practices:
29%: The decline in Medicare physician payment since 2001, when adjusted for inflation, according to the American Medical Association.
91%: The increase in costs of attending medical school over the last 22 years, adjusted for inflation.
$250,000: The amount of medical school debt carried by 32% of physicians in 2024.
64%: The percentage of medical school residents who said their compensation did not reflect their cost of living in Medscape's 2023 resident salary and debt report.
3.4%: The increase in inflation in the last year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This means that physicians in the 13 specialties who saw pay increases of less than 3.4% essentially received pay cuts compared to their salaries last year.