PA Salary Increased by Only 2.9% per AAPA Salary Report
The recently released 2018 AAPA (American Academy of Physician Assistants) Salary Report showed an increase in PA salaries to $105,000 in 2017. The AAPA is the national organization that advocates for PAs. They release an annual salary report that highlights PA compensation and other related topics.
The data for this year’s salary report was collected from the AAPA salary survey from February 2 to March 2, 2018, and was based on compensation in 2017. There were only 9,140 PAs who responded to the survey; a very small percentage of the over 100,000 certified PAs.
The 2018 report showed an increase in salaries of 2.9% from the prior year; which is a smaller increase than we have seen the past few years. This was also less of an increase then what was reported by the NCCPA, which showed a 3.5% increase from the previous year.
78% of respondents were paid an annual salary, 17.25% were paid an hourly rate and 4.1% were paid base on productivity. Those working in emergency medicine, employed by staffing agencies and working in convenient care clinics were most likely to be paid an hourly rate. Those paid based on productivity reported higher salaries, with median compensation at $150,000.
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Of all the PA salary reports the AAPA report has the greatest level of detail. It provides salaries for full time employment on median base salary ($105,000), hourly rate ($60), bonus ($6,000) and productivity pay ($150,000). It also provides the same data for part-time work. National averages are given, but the data is broken down by state and specialty as well. If you’re looking to see what other ancillary benefits PAs receive the AAPA report will be your best reference tool.
Other additional findings that were highlighted in this year’s annual report included: how compensation for hospital employed PAs differs, differences in compensation and cost-of-living by state, how state laws affect PA compensation and wage parity for PAs. If you’re looking for a job with a pay increase the data suggest working for a hospital system that pays based on production is the way to go.
Although a 2.6% (BLS data) increase may not seem like much, the percent increase was comparable to NPs at 2.7%. Also, the percent increase outpaced physicians and surgeons; as well as the national trend for all careers according to data from the BLS.
Overall, it appears that PA salaries continue to increase more than the average career. The salary report is free to AAPA members and is a benefit you should be sure to take a look at. Even though overall response rate was low, the reported salaries are very close to other PA salary reports. If you’re negotiating a PA salary anytime soon you’ll want to reference the AAPA salary to help.
I received a 3% increase in my base salary this year, how about you? Is your salary in line with the AAPA salary report? Please comment below the original post, sign up to receive future posts by email and share with your friends!
