5 Ways to Increase Your Family Medicine Salary

As a specialty, family medicine attracts some most dedicated and passionate people in medicine—those who want to be on the front lines of primary care and who seek meaningful, long-term relationships with patients and their families.

The salary of a family medicine doctor, however, may not reflect the value they provide. According to Medscape’s Family Physician Wealth & Debt Report, the average income for a family medicine physician was $255,000 in 2022—the third-lowest specialty on the list. Plastic surgeons, in contrast, earned an average salary of $576,000.

Fortunately, your income as a family medicine doctor is not absolute. Here are five effective ways to increase your earnings.

Live Where Family Medicine Doctors Make the Most Money

If you’re geographically flexible, consider moving to a top-paying state. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, these states have the highest annual mean wage for family medicine physicians:

• Idaho
• Alaska
• New Hampshire
• Wyoming
• North Dakota

Salary, of course, is half of the equation. A low cost of living will help your income go further. Southern and Midwestern states tend to have lower costs of living compared to other states, particularly those in the Northeast and on the West Coast.

Once you’ve zeroed in on a region, use a site like Health eCareers to research the average base pay of family medicine doctors in that area.

Negotiate Your Contract

Being a smart negotiator comes down to two main factors: knowing what’s important to you and doing your research.

Salary is just one component of compensation. Other variables include:

• Paid time off—holidays, sick days, vacation time, and personal leave
• Health insurance
• Bonuses and supplemental pay
• Retirement contributions

If you know which of these benefits are important to you, and if you’ve taken the time to research the pay range of a family medicine doctor in your area, you have the opportunity to land on a mutually agreeable offer.

One note: Women make less than men across all specialties, particularly primary care physicians. In fact, women in primary care receive the lowest pay of all physicians, according to Medscape. Women who negotiate their contracts should be armed with this knowledge and prepared to back up their requests with relevant data.

Find a Primary Care Niche

Family medicine is a broad specialty—but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a focus. Create an opportunity to earn more by offering additional services. Potential areas of specialization include:

• Allergy and immunization
• Dermatology, including aesthetic dermatology such as cosmetic laser services
• Endoscopy
• Eye exams or hearing tests
• Integrative health
• Mental health
• Pain management

Because you may need additional training—and you may have expenses associated with equipment or certification—your niche should be aligned with your professional interests.

Switch to a Direct Primary Care Model

Direct primary care (also called subscription medicine) allows doctors to provide services directly to patients—without the involvement of insurance. Patients pay a monthly fee to a physician or practice in exchange for more personalized care.

Because you have a smaller patient panel, you can spend more time with each patient and focus on preventive care and well-being—which is probably why you decided to go into family medicine to begin with.

And because you don’t bill insurance, you have less overhead and reduced administrative burdens. With this model, many primary care physicians find that they need fewer employees to run their practice efficiently.

Direct primary care is rapidly growing in the U.S., but it’s not for everyone. One of the biggest perks for patients is increased access to their doctor. If you don’t like the feeling of always being on call, this may not be the path for you.

Work Smarter, Not Harder

It may not be an obvious (or exciting) option, but streamlining your workflow can help you focus on profitable activities—namely, seeing patients and performing procedures—instead of being bogged down with administrative tasks.

Throughout your day, identify opportunities to be more efficient:

• Master your electronic medical records (EMR) system. Attend an EMR training so you can learn to get the most from your software. Take the time to customize your EMR to match your workflow and preferences. Templates and dictation in particular can help you chart more efficiently.
• Identify obstacles. Are late patients throwing off your day? Implement a late policy. Does starting your day on time mean getting to the office early? Make a commitment to do just that.
• Delegate. If a task doesn’t require your expertise, find another member of your team to handle it. The same is true for other staff, from nurse practitioners to medical assistants.

Family Medicine Can Be Financially Rewarding

Your income as a family medicine physician is not set in stone—and there are plenty of incentives to increase it.

Not only can it help you pay off student loans faster and save for retirement, but it can provide the means to save for your children’s education and pursue other passions. Most importantly, it can help you stay connected to the values that inspired you to become a family medicine doctor in the first place.

Author Bio

Stephanie Davis, M.A. is a content marketer with over 8 years of experience. As the current content manager at Health eCareers, she creates a content strategy to help physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and nurses on their healthcare job search and life on the job.