SullivanCotter, the nation’s leading independent consulting firm in the assessment and development of total rewards programs, workforce solutions, and data products for health care and not-for-profits, has released new data and benchmarks from the 2025 Physician Compensation and Productivity Survey.

This year, median physician total cash compensation (TCC, equal to base salary plus incentives) rose more sharply than it has for a decade, driven primarily by clinician supply and demand imbalances. While TCC grew year-over-year across all major specialty categories, adult medical specialties experienced the largest increase from 2024 to 2025 at 7.5%. Over the past 5 years, however, primary care specialties have led the charge with an overall increase of 21.8%.

SullivanCotter’s data represents the largest and most comprehensive physician compensation benchmarking resource for health systems and hospitals nationwide. This year’s report includes data from more than 500 health care organizations representing approximately 231,300 physicians across 232 specialties. This reflects a 7.5% increase in the number of physician records reported from the 2024 survey.

While several market forces continue to influence physician compensation in 2025, perhaps the most significant and long-lasting is the evolving expectations of the physician workforce. “In the last five years, we've seen a demonstrable change in the impact of generational preferences,” said Mark Ryberg, Physician Workforce Practice Leader, SullivanCotter. “Often, younger physicians don't want to be at risk relative to the production or the amount of volume they can generate. They're prioritizing security in the form of base salaries. With physician shortages, generational workforce expectations, and regulatory pressures converging, health care organizations will need to adopt creative workforce strategies while closely monitoring compensation design to stay competitive.”

This year’s survey report shows that work RVU (wRVU) productivity remained relatively consistent overall, with year-over-year changes averaging around 1.5%. From 2024 to 2025, reported median wRVU productivity for adult medical (3.0%), pediatric surgical (2.4%), and adult surgical (2.0%) specialties saw the greatest increases. Aligning with last year’s survey results, adult medical specialties again experienced the highest growth in both TCC and productivity. “Following the large swings in the 2021 and 2022 surveys due to the pandemic and the subsequent recovery period, wRVU productivity and the ratio of TCC per wRVU have remained more consistent in the past two years,” said Dave Hesselink, Managing Principal, SullivanCotter.

The 2025 report also shows that base salary and wRVU productivity continue to be the most prevalent compensation plan components in primary care, medical, and surgical specialty compensation plans. As for physician incentive pay, individual productivity and patient experience continue to be the most common measures, with nearly 75% of responding organizations incorporating these into their compensation plans. Additionally, the use of outcomes-based measures has increased by 4.6% from 2024 to 2025.

Other incentives like sign-on bonuses (90%) and student loan repayment (52%) are being deployed more frequently by survey participants to aid in recruitment efforts. For many physicians, financial security and work-life balance outweigh the risks and variability of incentive-heavy models. This shift is prompting organizations to redesign plans that balance guaranteed income with performance-based components to ensure they remain competitive in recruiting and retaining early-career physicians.

Many health systems view patient access as their greatest challenge and are looking for creative compensation solutions that enable them to take on new patients. This includes an increased focus on working at top-of-license across all clinical roles. ​"As competition for talent heats up, we’ll likely see more plans guaranteeing base salary with a corresponding incentive component based on providing increased access to patients," said Ryberg.

About SullivanCotter

SullivanCotter partners with health care and other not-for-profit organizations to understand what drives performance and improves outcomes through the development and implementation of integrated workforce strategies. Using our time-tested methodologies and industry-leading research and information, we provide data-driven insights, expertise, and data products to help organizations align business strategy and performance objectives – enabling our clients to deliver on their mission, vision, and values.

For more information on SullivanCotter’s surveys, please visit www.sullivancotter.com, or contact us via email or by phone at 888.739.7039.

Note to media: Additional data and interviews are available on request.

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Median physician total cash compensation (base salary plus incentives) rose more sharply than it has for a decade.