Cardiologist compensation much higher at hospitals and health systems than private practices—and the gap is widening

The median compensation for integrated cardiologists in the United States was $645,388 in 2022, according to a new in-depth survey from MedAxiom, an American College of Cardiology (ACC) company. That represents an increase of nearly 4% compared to 2021, when the median compensation was $621,596.

Meanwhile, the median compensation for private cardiologists appears to be trending in the opposite direction. It was $588,272 in 2022, down 2.7% compared to the $604,652 recorded in 2021. As a result of this shift, integrated cardiologists now earn more than $57,000 more per year than private cardiologists. This represents a much wider gap in pay than MedAxiom reported in 2020 ($23,000) and 2021 ($17,000).

When grouping cardiologists by different subspecialties, the survey revealed that electrophysiologists earn the highest median compensation ($714,976), followed closely be interventional cardiologists ($709,714). Other specialties included in the breakdown included invasive cardiologists ($662,006), general/noninvasive cardiologists ($585,849) and advanced heart failure specialists ($575,000).

Key details about the Cardiovascular Provider Compensation and Production Survey Report

MedAxiom’s 11th Cardiovascular Provider Compensation and Production Survey Report includes input from nearly 6,000 cardiovascular providers, including 2,894 full-time cardiologists and another 1,836 full-time cardiovascular advanced practice providers (APPs).

The median size of programs responding to the survey was 11.6 full-time equivalent (FTE) physicians. For integrated cardiology groups, the median size was 9.3 FTEs. For private programs, it was 19.1 FTEs.

Also, 89% of the included programs are integrated—meaning they are owned by a hospital or health system—and the other 11% are private. Those percentages are unchanged compared to 2021, but radically different from 2011, when just 48% of cardiology programs were integrated.

In addition, 43% of programs included in the survey have 10 or fewer FTEs. Twenty-two percent of programs have 11 to 20 FTEs, 13% have 21 to 30 FTEs, 12% have 31 to 50 FTEs and another 10% have 51 or more FTEs on staff.

All data represented in the survey are from 2022.