General Surgery: industry payments
Drug and device makers reported $5,414,713 in payments to providers registered in this specialty across Open Payments program years 2019–2025.
- Providers
- 1,431
- Received a payment
- 376 (26.3%)
- Total reported
- $5.4M
- Average, those paid
- $14,401
The average is computed only over providers who received something, because including the 1,055 who received nothing would produce a number that describes neither group. Totals are dominated by a small number of large royalty and consulting arrangements; the typical payment in this specialty is far smaller than the average implies.
What Medicare pays general surgery clinicians
Across 1,431 general surgery clinicians who billed Original Medicare Part B in 2024, Medicare allowed $114,914,043 in total — an average of $80,303 each, of which $73,212 was for services and the rest for drugs administered in the office.
This is not a salary. The rest is what Medicare allowed for services these clinicians billed — Original Medicare fee-for-service only. It excludes Medicare Advantage, which now covers more than half of Medicare enrollees, along with Medicaid and every commercial insurer, so for most clinicians it is a fraction of their practice. It is also gross revenue: staff, rent, supplies and malpractice premiums all come out of it before anyone is paid. Anyone quoting a figure like this as physician pay is misreading it.
What general surgery clinicians earn
Medicare billing is not pay. For what clinicians in this field actually earn, the U.S. Department of Labor publishes employer-reported wages — median, low end and top 10% — nationally and by state.
By state
| State | Providers | Total reported | Per provider |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Jersey | 39 | $1,781,134 | $45,670 |
| Oklahoma | 8 | $535,451 | $66,931 |
| Nevada | 8 | $494,527 | $61,816 |
| New York | 122 | $372,759 | $3,055 |
| California | 167 | $355,195 | $2,127 |
| Texas | 61 | $344,971 | $5,655 |
| Alabama | 28 | $206,391 | $7,371 |
| Virginia | 40 | $201,727 | $5,043 |
| Montana | 9 | $153,433 | $17,048 |
| Illinois | 41 | $123,629 | $3,015 |
| Tennessee | 27 | $113,700 | $4,211 |
| Ohio | 41 | $104,249 | $2,543 |
| Florida | 54 | $95,817 | $1,774 |
| Maryland | 30 | $68,332 | $2,278 |
| Mississippi | 10 | $65,209 | $6,521 |
| Colorado | 18 | $51,230 | $2,846 |
| Georgia | 29 | $46,382 | $1,599 |
| Iowa | 12 | $44,912 | $3,743 |
| Pennsylvania | 57 | $40,992 | $719 |
| Hawaii | 10 | $39,148 | $3,915 |
| Arizona | 24 | $34,680 | $1,445 |
| Louisiana | 14 | $28,687 | $2,049 |
| South Carolina | 13 | $27,849 | $2,142 |
| Oregon | 27 | $23,275 | $862 |
| Washington | 45 | $13,115 | $291 |
| Minnesota | 61 | $9,812 | $161 |
| North Carolina | 33 | $8,735 | $265 |
| Kansas | 4 | $6,168 | $1,542 |
| Puerto Rico | 7 | $3,813 | $545 |
| West Virginia | 11 | $3,308 | $301 |
| Michigan | 43 | $3,087 | $72 |
| Delaware | 6 | $2,953 | $492 |
| Missouri | 10 | $2,091 | $209 |
| Idaho | 4 | $1,725 | $431 |
| New Mexico | 25 | $1,450 | $58 |
| Arkansas | 6 | $719 | $120 |
| Indiana | 18 | $718 | $40 |
| Massachusetts | 52 | $606 | $12 |
| Kentucky | 10 | $524 | $52 |
| Connecticut | 15 | $510 | $34 |
| Maine | 29 | $508 | $18 |
| Nebraska | 8 | $489 | $61 |
| Alaska | 9 | $175 | $19 |
| Rhode Island | 5 | $169 | $34 |
| District of Columbia | 6 | $164 | $27 |
| Wisconsin | 54 | $125 | $2 |
| New Hampshire | 26 | $74 | $3 |
| Vermont | 21 | $0 | $0 |
| Guam | 4 | $0 | $0 |
| Utah | 10 | $0 | $0 |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | 5 | $0 | $0 |
| South Dakota | 4 | $0 | $0 |
| Northern Mariana Islands | 1 | $0 | $0 |
| North Dakota | 4 | $0 | $0 |
| Wyoming | 5 | $0 | $0 |
| AE | 1 | $0 | $0 |