Physician Compensation Growth Outpaces Productivity Gains In 2026

Physician compensation continued to grow faster than productivity in 2026. Across adult medical specialties, median total cash compensation (TCC) increased 7.2% from 2025 to 2026, while physician productivity, measured as work relative value units (wRVUs), increased 2.8%. Nearly 65% of surveyed health care provider organizations also plan to expand their physician workforce over the next year.

The 2.8% increase in wRVU productivity for adult medical specialties was the highest across all specialties included in the survey and marked the second consecutive year that adult medical specialties had the highest productivity growth. By comparison, wRVU productivity for primary . . .