It's no secret that primary care providers make significantly less than other physicians. It's also known that medical practices want to recruit more primary care physicians. Next year, millions more will be required under President Obama's health care reform law to buy health insurance, demanding a larger primary care workforce that is already in short supply.

According to a new survey from the Medical Group Management Association, it looks like practices are offering a higher salary to primary care doctors in an effort to recruit them. Results, based on 2012 data, find that primary care physicians reported $180,000 in median first-year guaranteed compensation, up from $175,000 in 2011.

According to Kenneth Hertz from the MGMA Health Care Consulting Group, practices are also offering signing bonuses, relocation expenses, and even additional vacation time to attract new physicians.
It's well-known that the U.S. faces a shortage of primary care physicians. Several incentives in the law are geared toward attracting medical students away from specialty care and toward primary care.

The MGMA Physician Placement Starting Salary Survey: 2013 Report Based on 2012 Data contains data on 5,225 voluntary providers in 629 medical organizations.

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