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Provider compensation grew, but productivity outpaced pay

New data from AMGA shows a 4.3% bump in provider compensation last year, driven by productivity growth rather than reimbursement increases.

Jacqueline LaPointe
By
Published: 29 Jun 2026

Healthcare providers were paid more in 2025, but they had to work harder to earn the 4.3% boost in total compensation, according to AMGA's latest analysis.

AMGA -- formerly the American Medical Group Association -- released the 2026 Medical Group Compensation and Productivity Survey on Thursday. The data from 451 medical groups and health systems representing about 188,000 providers showed another increase in total compensation as patient demand remained strong last year.

Primary care specialties experienced a 3.7% increase in total clinical compensation from the previous year, while medical specialties saw an overall 4.3% increase, the analysis showed.

Surgical specialties also saw a significant bump, with total clinical compensation growing by 3.2%.

Within those categories, the providers who experienced the greatest increase in pay in 2025 were radiologists, anesthesiologists and pathologists. This group of three specialties experienced a 5.7% increase.

Notably, advanced practice clinicians, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants/associates, also received a substantial 4.1% compensation bump last year. This reflects the expanded role these clinicals play in medical groups, according to the analysis.

Additionally, the wage gap between NPs and PAs working in the same specialties narrowed somewhat in 2025. AMGA reported that the difference decreased from over $7,000 to under $400 across medical specialties over the past year.

Pay bumps linked to productivity

Increased provider productivity was key to the overall compensation increases across medical specialties in 2025, AMGA researchers said in the analysis. This was driven by greater work relative value units, which measure the time, skill and intensity required by a provider to perform a service.

Researchers found that wRVUs increased by 2.4% overall last year, with radiologists, anesthesiologists and pathologists experiencing the greatest median year-over-year change at 3.1%.

Advanced practice clinicians followed with a median wRVU bump of 3.0%, and surgical specialty providers with 3.1%. Primary care and medical specialty providers both saw increases of 2.0%, respectively.

At the same time, overall patient visit volume increased by 2.0%, they reported. This indicated "signs of genuine demand," AMGA said, although primary care was a notable exception.

Primary care visits dropped by 2.2% in 2025, representing about 60 to 90 fewer visits per physician per year, the analysis found. When coupled with greater provider productivity data, researchers said the analysis points to primary care providers seeing higher acuity patients rather than more patients overall.

Still, increased provider productivity funded about half of the observed compensation growth -- rather than gains in reimbursement -- cementing a trend of ongoing wRVU production growth, according to Fred Horton, AMGA Consulting president. However, it raises key concerns for medical groups and health systems.

"In a marketplace with stagnant reimbursement, this is necessary to afford the increases in total cash compensation, but it is not sustainable," Horton explained. "At some point productivity will top out, and providers are already adjusting their FTE and seeking alternative work arrangements in response to increased workloads."

A perfect productivity storm

Medical groups and health systems are already under immense pressure as the Trump administration implements major reforms to public health insurance programs.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act alone is expected to create an additional 10 million uninsured people by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office. In particular, the CBO estimates 7.5 million people will lose Medicaid coverage, largely due to newly implemented work requirements and stricter eligibility redeterminations.

Collections growth is already trailing compensation, AMGA stressed. The difficult policy backdrop could make it worse as providers anticipate higher uncompensated care costs and sicker patients who avoid care until necessary due to cost concerns.

The trend toward higher provider productivity also comes in the aftermath of record-high physician burnout rates during the COVID-19 pandemic. The rate of burnout has declined since then, but remains at about 42%, the American Medical Association reported.

Horton stressed that relying on provider productivity growth to compensate for these difficulties cannot be a long-term solution.

"Organizations must focus on eliminating administrative waste and building an operational platform that supports providers at higher productivity levels without compounding burnout," Horton said in the press release.

Jacqueline LaPointe is an Executive Editor at Xtelligent Healthcare Media, covering revenue cycle management, healthcare payers, health policy and health IT since 2016.

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