Interventional Pulmonology Productivity, Compensation, and Practice Benchmarks

Background: Interventional pulmonology (IP) is a growing field that has not yet been recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties or incorporated into national benchmark organizations. As a result, there is a lack of data on IP practice patterns, physicians’ compensation and productivity targets. Methods: We sent an anonymous survey to 647 current or past physician members of the AABIP. Domains included demographics, training background, academic rank, practice settings, work relative value unit (wRVU) targets, salary, and career satisfaction. Results: The response rate to the survey was 28.3%; 17.8% were female. The median salary for IP faculty in academic institutions was $320,000 for assistant professors, $338,000 for associate professors, and $350,000 for full professors. Salaries were lower for women than for men in academic practice, even after adjusting for the number of years in practice (mean salary difference after adjustment $57,175, 95% CI: $19,585-$94,764, P =0.003). The median salary for private practice was higher at $428,000. Among respondents that used wRVU targets, the median targets for academic and private practice were 5500 and 6300, respectively. The majority of IP physicians are satisfied with their career choice. Conclusions: Productivity targets in IP are used less than half the time, and when they are used, they are set in line with the lower wRVU of IP procedures. IP compensation is higher than that of general pulmonary medicine, as reported by national benchmark associations. In academic practices, gender differences in salaries were found.