The average physician’s income dropped by $13,000 between 1995 and 2003, because of cuts in payments from Medicare and private insurance providers, according to a study released last week by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).

Physicians earned 7 percent less, after adjusting for inflation, during 2003 than they did in 1995, according to HSC, a nonpartisan policy research organization in Washington, D.C. The decline in physicians’ real income stands in sharp contrast to wage trends for other professionals who saw about a 7 percent increase during that same time period.

Among different types of physicians, primary care physicians fared the worst with a 10.2 percent decline between 1995 and 2003, while surgeons’ income declined by 8.2 percent. But medical specialists’ income essentially remained unchanged.

The study also found that the average number of hours worked by physicians fell slightly from 55.5 hours a week in 1995 to 53.2 hours in 2003. This includes time spent on administrative tasks, professional activities, and direct patient care, but not time spent on call when not actually caring for patients. Physicians are also spending more time on direct patient care. With patient care hours increasing and total work hours falling, physicians are now spending a significantly larger proportion of their work time caring for patients, 86 percent in 2003 compared to 81 percent in 1995.

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