Expenditure for physician and clinical services stood at some 700 billion U.S. dollars in 2017. Thus, such services accounted for a significant share of total U.S. healthcare spending. The largest proportion of costs for these services was paid via private health insurances, followed by Medicare payments.
Compensation for physicians is always a controversial issue, especially in times of economic crisis and growing health costs. Orthopedics and plastic surgeons include the highest-earning physicians. With some 482,000 and 471,000 U.S. dollars respectively, these specialists have the highest average annual compensation for patient care. The highest-paid physicians live in the north central part of the U.S., where the mean compensation stood at some 319,000 U.S. dollars as of early 2018.
