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Orthopedic surgery, internal medicine, and family medicine providers topped the list of recruitment searches from June 2004-June 2005, with neurosurgeons, radiologists, and orthopedic surgeons earning the highest starting compensations respectively, according to the 2005 Delta Medical Consulting Physician Recruiting Standard Survey . "The Delta Medical Consulting survey is a real-time, fair market value look at compensation trends based on in-house recruiters and hospital executives," explains Marc Bowles, CPC-PRC, vice president of physician search for the national physician recruiting firm. The data are reported quarterly and reflect physician recruiting trends for the previous 12 months. Leading the pack in base starting salary were neurosurgeons-earning $515,333, up $5,500 (1%) from the $509,833 listed in Delta’s March 2004-2005 survey-followed by radiologists ($398,500), orthopedic surgeons ($359,167), and cardiologists ($355,666). Pay increased for all three specialties compared to March survey data, rising by nearly 3% for radiologists, 0.05% for orthopedic surgeons, and 9% for cardiologists.