July 5, 2023 – New research from the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) reveals that medical group leaders continue to make bold changes to address persistent staffing hurdles and rising labor expenses to meet growing patient demand for care. The 2023 MGMA Management and Staff Compensation data set, based on 2022 data, includes insights from more than 157,000 management and staff positions from nearly 3,000 organizations.
While inflationary growth is slowing in 2023, salary costs continue on an upward trajectory. Among the key takeaways from the 2023 benchmarking data:
- All nursing positions saw an average 8.5% jump in median total compensation from 2021 to 2022, fueling a 19.37% five-year increase since 2018.
- The median hourly compensation rate grew $2.14 for medical assistants (MAs) from 2021 to 2022, while registered nurses and triage nurses saw hourly rates climb $5.80 and $5.70, respectively, for the same period.
- Hourly rates for clinical and nursing staff continued to increase annually, keeping pace with the annual total compensation increases.
- Employees in executive management roles saw the biggest one-year change at an 8.99% increase from 2021 to 2022.
Many leaders are leveraging higher compensation and sign-on bonuses to attract new candidates, along with new approaches such as collaborating with school programs, offering in-house training opportunities, and increasing part-time positions.
The COVID-19 pandemic drove a substantial number of nurses out of the healthcare industry, and filling those roles has been a formidable challenge for healthcare leaders. While higher compensation can help address nursing shortages, leaders are furthering their efforts by easing the burden on nursing staff with patient self-service tools, reducing turnover by expanding employee benefits, and redesigning care teams to optimize each team member’s skill set.
A decline in COVID-19 caseloads also reduced travel nurse demand and compensation, which helped stabilize the market. However, intense competition for skilled nurses still exists between hospitals, specialists, and private practices as nursing schools struggle to build the capacity to train the next generation of clinical staff.