Same white doctor’s coat, but less pay in the pockets for women, Black doctors in Maryland

Salaries for female doctors in Maryland are significantly below those of their male counterparts. Asian doctors’ income is more than white doctors’ income, which is more than Black doctors earn. And all the state’s doctors average incomes below their peers nationwide.

This is according to a new report commissioned by MedChi, a state medical society, which found similar disparities two years earlier.

Officials could not explain why the gaps persist, though the U.S. Department of Labor reports unequal paychecks can be found in every state. That includes Maryland, though the state has relatively smaller earnings disparities.

Working Maryland women earn about 81 cents for every dollar earned by men. Black workers earn 78 cents, Hispanic people earn 64 cents and Asian Pacific Islanders earn 93 cents for every dollar earned by white people.

In the MedChi doctor survey, however, the gaps are more pronounced. The average annual pre-tax income for female physicians in the state was $213,000, compared with $320,000 for male doctors.

“The fact that significant gender-based income disparities persist among Maryland physicians is both disappointing and perplexing,” MedChi CEO Gene Ransom said. “We expected to see at least some closure of this gap, but it remains as wide as ever.”

Specialties didn’t affect the gap, with male primary care physicians bringing in $262,542, compared with females’ income of $172,542. Male surgeons or other specialists took in $350,625, compared with female’s income of $250,115.

Asian American physicians had average income of $325,000, compared with $268,000 for white physicians and $225,000 for Black physicians in the state.

Maryland doctors also had average income toward the bottom of the pay scale nationally, the survey found. Maryland pediatricians had an average income of $165,000, compared with the national starting salary of $236,000, and orthopedic surgeons in Maryland had income averaging of $394,000, compared with national starting salaries of $546,000.

Surveyors at Merritt Hawkins, a national physician search and consulting firm, said they adjusted for hours worked, practice status and age. The survey of more than 500 doctors in the state had a 4% margin of error.

MedChi plans to convene a panel to examine and address the pay disparities.