Growing demand and steady profits keep orthopedic surgery compensation high

Orthopedic surgeons may have initially been alarmed at the 4.3% compensation increase in the 2007 MGMA Physician Compensation and Production Survey after seeing 7.9% growth the previous year. But it’s nothing to be alarmed about—orthopedic surgery remains one of the highest-performing specialties.

The drop is more a product of across-the-board compensation stagnation than a problem specific to orthopedic surgery. The average specialty increased 1.8%, and orthopedic surgeons saw a bigger jump in compensation than most other specialists.