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Gender gap endures

October 2013

Published in the October 2013 issue of Today’s Hospitalist

Gender gap endures

A REVIEW OF INCOME DATA finds that the discrepancy between pay for male and female physicians has held steady for more than 20 years.

Research published online last month by JAMA Internal Medicine looked at data from 1987 through 2010 for more than 1.3 million professionals, including nearly 6,300 physicians. While the percentage of doctors who were women rose sharply from 10.3% in 1987-90 to 28.4% in 2006-10, the earning differential between male and female physicians didn’t substantially change.

In 1987-90, the study found that women physicians earned 20% less than their male colleagues, a percentage that dropped to 16.3% in 19962000 but then rose to 25.3% in 2006-10. The authors noted that studies have found that income differences between male and female doctors persist even when earnings are adjusted for hours worked and specialty.

The study also found that the income gender gap in industries outside health care has narrowed considerably. And within health care, the gender differential in earnings for pharmacists and registered nurses was smaller than for doctors.

Post-MI meds: Time to increase doses?

WHILE PHYSICIANS ARE DOING A GOOD JOB of prescribing medications at discharge for secondary prevention of heart attacks, they may want to pay more attention to doses being prescribed.

That’s according to an analysis of registry data published in the August issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Data on more than 6,700 patients treated in more than 30 U.S. hospitals indicate that only one-third of MI patients at discharge were prescribed goal doses of beta-blockers, statins and ACE/ARBs.

Further, up-titration of those medications during outpatient follow-up occurred in only 25% of patients who were followed for 12 months. Researchers found a strong association between patients’ being prescribed goal doses at discharge and maintaining those doses over the course of 12 months.

The authors also pointed out that performance measures for AMI note only if medications have been prescribed. The researchers recommend integrating dose intensity into those performance measures to improve secondary prevention.