Study finds the demand for positions strongly influences medical residents' salaries.<\/p>\n
When medical-school graduates apply for their residencies, they use a centralized clearinghouse that matches applicants with jobs. This system has sometimes been challenged, such as in a lawsuit several years ago that claimed salaries of residents were reduced by this centralized matching method. <\/p>\n
But a forthcoming study by an MIT economist indicates that demand for a limited number of desirable residency positions can keep salaries low -- and introduces a new way of assessing that demand despite incomplete data that has previously restricted analysis of the issue. <\/p>\n
\"Salaries will likely remain low unless residency programs can increase the number of positions,\" says Nikhil Agarwal, an assistant professor of economics at MIT, and author of the paper on the subject. <\/p>\n
On average, Agarwal's study finds, salaries of medical residents are lowered by an average of $23,000 due to the demand for slots. As the study puts it, residents are willing to accept an \"implicit tuition\" in their wages in return for experience and prestige. In the long run, residencies may be a worthwhile tradeoff for doctors establishing themselves in the profession, even with seemingly reduced wages. <\/p>\n
Determining demand <\/p>\n
Agarwal's paper, to be published in the American Economic Review, is based on data from 2003 to 2011 gathered by the National Graduate Medical Education census. <\/p>\n
The central clearinghouse -- the National Residency Matching Program (NRMP) -- matches about 25,000 medical residents annually. Incoming residents rank the positions they would most like to have, and an algorithm matches these choices with the ranked preferences of the medical programs. <\/p>\n
A 2002 lawsuit asserted that the residents have limited bargaining power because they are assigned to positions and cannot receive multiple job offers, unfairly lowering their compensation. That suit was eventually dismissed in 2004, a few months after Congress passed an antitrust exemption for the NRMP system. <\/p>\n
But that resolution of the lawsuit did not resolve the question of whether or not the clearinghouse does affect residency salaries. As of 2010, residents had a mean salary of about $47,000, compared to $86,000 for physician assistants, who do comparable work. Medical residents also have notably long workweeks and shifts, which themselves are the subject of intermittent public debate. <\/p>\n
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Is the medical match fair?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Study finds the demand for positions strongly influences medical residents' salaries. When medical-school graduates apply for their residencies, they use a centralized clearinghouse that matches applicants with jobs Continue reading