Female physicians earn less, even though their patients live longer

Women in Ohio, on average, earn about 74 cents for every dollar men make. Unless they are primary care physicians in Columbus. Then it’s 72 cents to the dollar, according to a report out this week from Doximity, a social network for physicians.

The news is slighter better in Cincinnati, where women primary care physicians earn only 24% less than male counterparts. In Cleveland it’s 27% less. It’s about the same in cities and towns across the country.

In dollar terms, on average, women physicians across the U.S. earn $91,284 less than their male counterparts. This from responses Doximity received from over 36,000 full-time, licensed U.S. physicians who practice at least 40 hours per week.

The wage gap exists across all specialities too; female neurosurgeons were found to earn over $90,000 less on average per year.

Couple the results of this survey with a study out late last year from Harvard, which found that older patients with female doctors live longer than those with male doctors.

From Stat in December:

Public health researchers at Harvard found that elderly patients were less likely to die or be readmitted to the hospital within 30 days if treated by female doctors rather than male. The study doesn’t explain why this happens, but prior studies have found that female doctors tend to spend more time with patients, communicate better, and follow clinical guidelines more often than their male colleagues.

Hmmmmm.

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