American College of Cardiology calls for more equitable wages among cardiologists

The American College of Cardiology just issued its first policy statement on compensation among cardiologists and is calling for more wage equity. Women cardiologists can be paid up to $38,000 less than their male colleagues, the report states, and cardiologists from a minority background are often more disadvantaged. The statement also asks health care facilities to not necessarily fall back on things that have systematically been sources of inequity — including past salaries — but to instead reward non-billable work including community service and mentoring. As far as what good compensation would look like, “An equitable compensation plan should avoid falling back on subjective or personal criteria to establish compensation,” the report states, including employees’ negotiation skills, since who chooses to negotiate and how effectively they do so could be subject to bias.