Gender Disparities in Compensation of Practicing Cardiothoracic Surgeons: Analyzing The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Compensation Survey.

Abstract

Gender-based pay disparity in compensation is widespread. In cardiothoracic surgery, women earn between 71% and 84% of men's salaries at comparable ranks. Limited data exist on how factors like subspecialty, practice type, and work efforts contribute to these disparities. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) conducted the Compensation Survey in 2023 among practicing members with at least a 0.5 full-time equivalent role. Collected data included compensation sources, predominant subspecialty of cardiothoracic surgery, work relative value units (wRVUs) generated, and demographics. Comparisons on gender-based salary across subspecialties, years of experience, and wRVUs were included. Among 838 respondents, gender disparities were present in both base salary and total compensation across all subspecialties, with women earning 64% to 93% of men's salaries. Income disparity was greatest in cardiac surgery with 11 to 20 years of experience, where women earned 63% to 70% of men's compensation. Similarly, in thoracic surgery, women earned 59% to 72% of the compensation of men with 21 to 30 years of experience. Women with 11 to 20 years of experience earned less than both men and women colleagues with 6 to 10 years of experience. Women reported more compensation from teaching, whereas men reported more from call coverage. Gender pay disparities exist among cardiothoracic surgeons, even when accounting for experience and productivity. Reasons for these disparities, including parenthood penalty, need to be further studied and corrections proposed.