Abortion Laws Drive Up OB-GYN Demand and Pay
An unprecedented demand for OB-GYNs is driving up starting salaries as physicians and doctors-in-training avoid practicing in states with abortion bans and limits on reproductive rights.
A new report from AMN Healthcare, the nation’s largest healthcare staffing company, shows demand for OB-GYNs is on the rise with the medical specialty the second-most requested search conducted by the firm in the last year. Searches for OB-GYNs trailed only family practice physicians, which are perennially the most in-demand doctor, AMN’s data shows.
The average starting salary offer made to OB-GYNs is up 6% to $389,000 and up 22% from five years ago, AMN said. The average starting salary was $327,000 in AMN’s 2020-2021 analysis. The figures are “base salary or guaranteed income only and average starting salary in the AMN report “does not include production bonus or benefits,” the firm said.
The demand by hospitals, clinics and other healthcare entities for OB-GYNs ranked the highest “it has ever ranked” since AMN Healthcare started doing its annual review of physician and advanced practitioner recruiting incentives more than 30 years ago.
This year’s review is based on a sample of more than 2,100 permanent physician and advanced practitioner search engagements that AMN Healthcare’s Physician Solutions division had “ongoing or conducted during the 12-month period from April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024,” the company said.
“Demand for OB-GYNs remains strong, while supply may be inhibited by the Supreme Court’s Dobbs vs. Jackson decision, after which fewer medical school graduates opted for OB-GYN residency positions,” AMN Healthcare said in the analysis of its report.
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