Absence of race- or gender-specific income disparities among full-time white and Asian general internists working for the Veterans Administration.
BACKGROUND
Gender-based, but not race-based, income disparities exist among general internists who practice medicine in the private sector.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to assess whether race- or gender-based income disparities existed among full-time white and Asian general internists who worked for the Veterans Health Administration of the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) between fiscal years 2004 and 2007, and whether any disparities changed after the VA enacted physician pay reform in early 2006.


METHODS
A retrospective study was conducted of all nonsupervisory, board-certified, full-time white or Asian VA general internists who did not change their location of practice between fiscal years 2004 and 2007. A longitudinal cohort design and linear regression modeling, adjusted for physician characteristics, were used to compare race- and gender-specific incomes in fiscal years 2004-2007.


RESULTS
A total of 176 physicians were included in the study: 82 white males, 33 Asian males, 30 white females, and 31 Asian females. In all fiscal years examined, white males had the highest mean annual incomes, though not statistically significantly so. Regression analyses for fiscal years 2004 through 2006 revealed that physician age and years of service were predictive of total income. After physician pay reform was enacted, Asian male VA primary care physicians had higher annual incomes than did physicians in all other race or gender categories, after adjustment for age and years of VA service, though these differences were not statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
No significant gender-based income disparities were noted among these white and Asian VA physicians. Our findings for white and Asian general internists suggest that the VA' s goal of maintaining a racially diverse workforce may have been effected, in part, through use of market pay among primary care general internists.
Weeks
William B
WB
VA Outcomes Group REAP, White River Junction VAMC, White River Junction, Vermont 05009, USA. wbw@dartmouth.edu
Wallace
Amy E
AE
D001213:Asian; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012456:Salaries and Fringe Benefits; D014481:United States; D014493:United States Department of Veterans Affairs; D044465:White People