Psychiatry had the largest one-year pay gain in MGMA's 2026 compensation data at 8.7%, while hepatology fell 9.7%. Across all physicians, MGMA's June 2026 report found median pay rising 1.79% to 2.90% in 2025, which sits at or below the 2.7% inflation rate for most groups.
The first figure comes from a specialty-by-specialty ranking. The second comes from MGMA's national view by physician group. A practice that sets raises for the year needs both.
What MGMA found for 2025 pay
MGMA released its 2026 Provider Compensation and Productivity Data report on June 10, 2026. The report uses 2025 data from more than 245,900 physicians and advanced practice providers. MGMA divides physicians into three groups, and the one-year change in median compensation differed for each.
| Physician group | One-year pay change (2025) | Five-year pay change (2021 to 2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Primary care | 2.23% | 15.04% |
| Surgical specialists | 2.90% | 16.33% |
| Nonsurgical specialists | 1.79% | 11.06% |
| Consumer prices (CPI) | 2.7% | 16.37% |
Source: MGMA news release, June 10, 2026, based on 2025 data.
Only surgical specialists beat the 2.7% inflation rate in 2025, by 0.20 percentage points. Primary care fell 0.47 points short. Nonsurgical specialists fell 0.91 points short.
The five-year view is worse for nonsurgical specialists
Over 2021 to 2025, CPI rose 16.37%. Surgical specialists came within 0.04 points of that, at 16.33%. Primary care trailed by 1.33 points at 15.04%. Nonsurgical specialists trailed by 5.31 points at 11.06%.
MGMA also reported that nonsurgical specialists' total patient visits fell 15.67% in one year. Guaranteed starting pay for nonsurgical specialists dropped 6.77%, although all three physician groups still start above their 2021 levels. Patient visits fell in all 23 core specialties MGMA tracks.
Which specialties gained the most
Marit Health published a ranking of year-over-year total compensation change on June 30, 2026. It uses a snapshot of MGMA 2026 compensation data licensed from MGMA, and it does not include MGMA's full commercial dataset. Marit states that its own database holds more than 30,000 peer-reported salaries across 190 specialties. It does not give a sample size for the MGMA snapshot.
Psychiatry led at 8.7%, followed by infectious disease at 7.3%. Nuclear medicine and radiation oncology tied at 6.4%. Rheumatology rose 6.3% and nephrology 5.9%. Urgent care rose 5.6%, urology 5.3%, physical medicine and rehabilitation 5.1%, endocrinology 5.0%, and gastroenterology 4.8%.
All ten of these gains were above the 2.7% inflation rate, and the top four were more than double it. A practice that employs a psychiatrist or an infectious disease physician should expect that physician's market pay to have moved well past a flat 2% raise.
Which specialties lost ground
Five specialties declined in the same ranking. Hepatology fell 9.7%, hematology 3.0%, wound care 2.2%, and otolaryngology and allergy and immunology each fell 0.9%.
Several large specialties barely moved. Plastic surgery and cardiology each rose 0.2%. Emergency medicine rose 1.2%, and radiology and pathology each rose 2.0%. Each of these is below the 2.7% inflation rate that MGMA reported for 2025.
| Specialty | Year-over-year total compensation change |
|---|---|
| Psychiatry | +8.7% |
| Infectious disease | +7.3% |
| Rheumatology | +6.3% |
| Gastroenterology | +4.8% |
| Radiology | +2.0% |
| Emergency medicine | +1.2% |
| Cardiology | +0.2% |
| Otolaryngology | -0.9% |
| Wound care | -2.2% |
| Hematology | -3.0% |
| Hepatology | -9.7% |
Source: Marit Health, citing MGMA 2026 compensation data, June 30, 2026.
Why pay and visits are moving apart
MGMA's release describes pay and productivity as moving in opposite directions. Pay rose in all three physician groups, while patient visits fell in all 23 core specialties. The 15.67% one-year drop in nonsurgical specialist visits is the sharpest figure in the release.
A new Medicare rule adds to the pressure for some specialties. MGMA says the efficiency adjustment, which took effect January 1, 2026, lowers work values for many non-time-based procedures. It affects urology, interventional cardiology and diagnostic radiology most. Urology rose 5.3% in the Marit ranking, while radiology rose 2.0%. MGMA's report covers 2025 data, so it predates the adjustment.
MGMA also cites the AAMC projection of a physician shortage of up to 86,000 by 2036. That figure explains why employers keep raising pay in short-supply specialties even as visit counts fall.
What this means for a compensation review
A single raise percentage for every physician will miss the market in both directions. At 2.7% inflation, a flat 3% raise would trail psychiatry's 8.7% market movement by 5.7 points and exceed hepatology's by 12.7 points.
MGMA also found that one in three medical groups lost a physician to burnout in the past year, up from about one in four in late 2024. Hybrid compensation models make up more than 75% of reported structures, and 48% of groups added advanced practice providers relative to physicians.
The Marit ranking reports percent changes in total compensation only. It gives no dollar medians and no per-specialty sample sizes, so a practice cannot use it to set a dollar salary. It shows direction and size of movement. Dollar benchmarks for a specific specialty and region come from the full MGMA dataset or another survey the practice licenses.
A practice can start with three comparisons: each physician's pay change against the specialty change above, against the 2.7% inflation rate, and against the practice's own visit volume. The MGMA release shows visits fell in all 23 core specialties, so the visit comparison belongs next to the pay comparison.
Sources
- MGMA, Physician pay and productivity are moving in opposite directions, June 10, 2026
- Marit Health, This Specialty Saw an 8.7% Salary Increase: 2026 MGMA Benchmarks Are Here, June 30, 2026
Talk to us
Fifteen minutes about your practice and the systems you run.