Reply #93: welcome! -- and aha [View All]

Specialists in Toronto do, of course, make quite a whole lot more than GPs in Joe Batt's Arm, Nfld, make.

I found the CMA's 1998 survey.

http://collection.nlc-bnc.ca/100/201/300/cdn_medical_association/cmaj/vol-159/issue-5/PRQ/index.htm

... but aha, interestingly, doctors were asked about earnings *changes*, but not about *earnings*. Oh well.

Here's one that does show some numbers -- for *gross* incomes only -- Tables V, VI and VII near the bottom:
http://www.oma.org/pcomm/OMR/jan/03gppaper.htm

Gross incomes aren't particularly helpful, since office and staff expenses are paid out of them. But you do have to keep in mind that "administrative" expenses for doctors in private practice are hugely lower for Cdn doctors, since there is only one insurer to deal with -- only one set of forms, one fee schedule, etc. And the other important point is that doctors do not spend time discussing treatment with third parties: doctors need no prior approval to provide services listed on the schedule, which they provide as necessary in their own professional judgment, not as decided by an insurer.

If you want to go into the income issue in depth, try googling around for things like "Canadian medical association" physicians income, or the like.

On a search for canada physicians income, I get this source:

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:Qn5Sd23IzYEJ:www.cahspr.ca/conference/proceedings/Slade_pres.pdf+physicians+income+canada&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
http://www.cahspr.ca/conference/proceedings/Slade_pres.pdf
"Physician Payment and Income Data Sources in Canada"

which mentions the Canadian Institute for Health Information:
http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=home_e

which leads me to this:
http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=statistics_results_topic_physicians_e&cw_topic=Health%20Human%20Resources&cw_subtopic=Physicians
"Health Human Resources - Physicians
CIHI provides a range of free, aggregate-level data on <?>
More comprehensive data may be available in published reports."

and this:
http://secure.cihi.ca/cihiweb/dispPage.jsp?cw_page=AR_82_E
"Average payment per physician"
The pdf document there might be just what you'd want if you wanted very specific information.

From page 25, the average fee-for-service payment was:

family medicine: $202,703
medical specialties: $260,194

Again - those are gross. But I should also note that doctors do get fees from sources other than the provincial health plans. The plans don't cover medical reports, e.g. to insurers in relation to injuries in car crashes, in relation to disability insurance claims, etc. Specialists, in particular, could be expected to earn substantial amounts for those services.