Q&A: MedAxiom CEO explores key trends in cardiologist, cardiovascular surgeon compensation
Compensation for U.S. cardiologists is up across the board, according to a recent survey published by MedAxiom, an American College of Cardiology company. The report identified similar trends for cardiovascular surgeons, highlighting the country’s high demand for all heart specialists in 2024 and beyond.
The 2024 Cardiovascular Provider Compensation and Production Survey Report included updated data from more than 200 cardiovascular programs throughout the United States. Cardiovascular Business reached out to Jerry Blackwell, MD, MBA, MedAxiom’s president and CEO, to dive deeper into the report’s findings. Blackwell, a veteran clinician himself, discussed several trends sure to interest cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons alike.
Read the full conversation below:
Cardiovascular Business: Cardiologist compensation continues to climb. What were your biggest takeaways as you reviewed the latest data?
Jerry Blackwell, MD, MBA: The overarching message to me is that cardiovascular practices are very, very resilient. They react to the marketplace in a positive way and adjust their work to meet demands as needed. One outcome of that resilience has been cardiologist salaries increasing over time.
To be clear, though, the goal is not to maximize income—the goal is to maximize our value to the marketplace and stay true to the patients we serve. That is what matters the most.
Another big takeaway for me is cardiology’s consistency. The quality of care we provide to our patients has remained high despite a radical change in the ownership of cardiovascular practices in the United States. Most practices were once independent, but now the vast majority have relationships with hospitals or different financial partners. Through all of that change, the end product to the consumer has not been compromised or changed—this shows just how stable cardiology has been as a specialty over the years.
Speaking of financial partners—what do you think of private equity’s rising influence? As private equity-backed management groups acquire more practices, could that impact compensation?
Cardiovascular organizations have needed capital partners forever, even if it’s just the traditional banking industry. Private equity is now out there as an alternative type of partner, one that tends to focus on high-value markets such as the cardiovascular community. In general, I think this will move the needle very little when it comes to compensation. However, private equity investments can still make a big impact on the practitioner who sees their practice get acquired—they may see a large upfront payment, for example, and then there is a chance that their salary will go down. The expectation would be that those salaries would then go back up over time.
But approximately 90% of all cardiologists are already working for a hospital or partnering with a hospital in some capacity—so the private equity influence only even applies to that other 10%. It’s important to keep in mind that this impacts a small part of the marketplace.
If private equity really starts to make inroads into the relationships between currently integrated cardiovascular organizations, of course, this could all change. It’s hard to say how that would look at this time.
Jerry Blackwell, MD, MBA. Image courtesy of MedAxiom, an American College of Cardiology company.
The country’s aging population is often cited as a key driver of cardiologist demand. There are more and more heart patients every day, and they are living longer than ever thanks to improvements in patient care and advanced technologies. Does that help explain the rising compensation for U.S. cardiologists?
We have seen productivity—and compensation—increase due to growing demand. Our aging population does play a role, yes, but I think the specialty has done a good job preparing for this moment. We’ve responded by bringing in more advanced practice providers to help our physicians, for example, and thinking of other ways to adapt and deliver the best care possible.
Are you concerned about a shortage of cardiologists in the years ahead? Different data have suggested one is on the horizon, if not here already.
Again, I think cardiology has done a really good job preparing for these things. And cardiologists are going to be much more productive as time goes on thanks to improvements in artificial intelligence, medical devices, electronic health records, telehealth, cardiac monitoring and so many other things. I know a lot of people are worried about a workforce shortage—but I don’t see it that way.
This latest report found that compensation was up 6% for heart surgeons and reached an all-time high for vascular surgeons. What were your thoughts about those findings?
It’s becoming more and more clear that there is some overlap in the traditional medical specialties. In other words, cardiothoracic surgeons and vascular surgeons are a lot like interventionalists in many ways—there is even some training overlap there.
That additional expertise is a good thing for cardiology as a whole, and it has increased the value of our surgeons.
Some medical students or trainees may be considering a career in cardiology in part due to its high salaries—and some of them could be reading this interview. What would be your message to those people?
Cardiovascular specialists are blessed—we are rewarded financially for the work that we do. We take care of a large number of patients who have very serious illnesses, so it’s not surprising that the marketplace rewards that very handsomely from a financial point of view.
The much more important thing to focus on, though, is how cardiovascular specialists and organizations will help protect the profession of medicine in the years ahead. Our value to society is not measured in dollars and cents—it is measured by how we adhere to the tenets of a profession where we subordinate ourselves to the welfare of those we serve. The most valued asset we have is being regarded by society as a profession that is here to help.
Click here for additional material about MedAxiom’s 2024 Cardiovascular Provider Compensation and Production Survey Report.
Michael has more than 18 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.