Ophthalmology: industry payments

Across 14,854 ophthalmology clinicians who billed Original Medicare Part B in 2024, Medicare allowed $7,469,952,937 in total — an average of $502,892 each, of which $269,049 was for services and the rest for drugs administered in the office.

This is not a salary. 46% of this figure is the cost of drugs administered in the office — chemotherapy, infusions and injections that Part B pays for and the practice has already bought. That money passes through; it is not earnings. 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.