What is compensation like in OEM?

If you have reviewed other pages first, you now understand that OEM is an incredibly diverse specialty, with many job opportunities and practice settings, high levels of job satisfaction, and low burnout. But job satisfaction and a diversity of practice settings doesn’t pay the bills. So a common question is “How much money do OEM physicians make?” Not because compensation is the only thing that matters, but it is an important factor for consideration.

Data is limited on OEM compensation. Because OEM is so small, it is often left out of compensation surveys. Other times it is grouped together with the larger specialty of Preventive Medicine, which likely has substantially lower compensation than OEM. Either way, it makes it hard to know where OEM stands by itself in comparison to other specialties.

Some of the more reliable sources are listed below.

• Doximity’s 2024 Physician Compensation Report does include OEM separately, which comes in at $318k. This is near the middle among all 50 specialties listed and in the top half among non-surgical specialties. Of note, it is about $5k above internal medicine and nearly $40k higher than Preventive Medicine.
• ACOEM conducts a pay and benefits survey of its membership every 3 years. The last one in 2022 does not have an overall average, but breaks it down by job category. Salaries demonstrated some variability among job categories, with those primarily doing consulting earning around $338k on average, CEO/President/Owner making $326k, and Corporate Medical Directors making $299k. On the lower end, assistant medical directors averaged $264k, staff OEM physicians averaged $239k, and academic types made about $210k. The full report is available to ACOEM members, and an updated report should be available near the end of 2025.
• A newer site serving as a dedicated OEM Salary Platform pulls data from OEM physicians that volunteer to anonymously provide their compensation data. As of December 2024, the site has 170 data points. The mean total compensation is $322k with a median around $295k. For young OEM physicians right out of residency, the mean is $262k and median $250k.

In summary, the available data shows that OEM physicians are compensated similarly or slightly better than other non-surgical specialists. There is variability based on job type/setting, region of the country, and number of years of experience. The overall average is in the lower $300k range, with a low end around the mid-low $200k range and a high end around the mid-$400k range.

Lastly, will note that per the Medscape 2024 Physician Compensation Report, OEM physicians (grouped with Preventive Medicine) are the most satisfied with their compensation among all specialties. Most OEM physicians will find this unsurprising as while our pay is very respectable and compares favorably to other non-surgical specialties, the burden of night call, working weekends and holidays, and general stress level is much less. Hence the great value of OEM overall.

Survey results from the Medscape Physician Compensation Report 2024. OEM grouped with Public Health and Preventive Medicine – highest percentage happy with their pay among all specialties.