Here are seven numbers to note about how physician pay compares to chief operating officer pay:
1. The average salary of a chief operating officer in the U.S. is $476,318 per year, according to a March 28 report from salary.com.
2. The bottom 10 percent of COOs make $274,111 annually.
3. The top 10 percent of COOs earn $745,902 each year.
4. Typical yearly earnings for COOs range from $370,475 to $617,428.
5. The 10 highest-earning average annual physician specialties by compensation, according to Medscape's "Physician Compensation Report 2022":
- Plastic surgery: $576,000
- Orthopedics and orthopedic surgery: $557,000
- Cardiology: $490,000
- Otolaryngology: $469,000
- Urology: $461,000
- Gastroenterology: $453,000
- Dermatology: $438,000
- Radiology: $437,000
- Ophthalmology: $417,000
- Oncology: $411,000
6. Primary care physicians earned an average of $260,000 in 2022, with specialists earning an average of $368,000, according to the Medscape report.
7. Physician pay decreased for four specialties from 2021 to 2022 — interventional cardiology, hematology, radiology and pediatrics — and increased for eight specialties — OB-GYN, anesthesiology, non-invasive cardiology, neurology, gastroenterology, orthopedic surgery, urology and internal medicine.