What are the highest paid physician assistant specialties?
There is a massive variance in pay from the highest-paid PA specialty to the lowest. Looking at information compiled by the AAPA at https://www.aapa.org/news-central/2020/12/top-10-paying-specialties-in-the-pa-profession/ the highest paid specialty is cardiothoracic surgery while the lowest-paid is primary care. This is no surprise as insurance tends to reimburse more for procedures and surgeries than office visits. Your pay structure is another important thing to consider. You may be able to negotiate compensation based on the procedures you perform. A dermatology PA that also does Botox as additional compensation can easily make more than cardiothoracic surgery if they are productive. The same could be true for a primary care provider that gets compensated for procedures they do, such as biopsies. It is important to choose a well-paid specialty, but it is just as important to negotiate to get separate compensation for additional skills you may have. Consider all this when choosing a specialty. Just remember, money isn’t everything though! Check out my book at www.panextsteps.com for much more on choosing a specialty and stay tuned for more posts in this series.