A discussion about physician salaries on Sermo

On Sermo, you'll find physicians (and only physicians) discussing all types of things. A recent discussion has focused on the validity of national physician salary surveys.

Here's what one physician posted on Sermo:

I've researched average physician compensation for a number of specialties, including my specialty using stats from AGMA, MGMA, and other sources. I am consistently struck by how low these figures are compared with individuals I know and others I know about.

I know the limitation of these statistics is that they usually only represent employed physicians. I thought it might be interested to see whether you believe the average income (and upper and lower ranges) for your specialty is correct, and what you think the implications are.

The reality is that most physicians voted that these numbers are inflated. In some cases, they're up by 25-30%. In other cases, over 50%. As a result of these published figures, new graduates are feeling entitled to very high salaries.
Keep in mind that some specialists may start at $185k and reach $450 once they become a partner. Others may get offers ranging from $200k to $350k, but then will you be happy if you choose jobs in the higher salary range or will you simply get burned out faster? Some of these jobs may be misrepresented (which is why you always want to have an attorney review your employment contracts).

Here are some physician salary survey sources:

CMS.gov (data from a 2009 AMGA survey) (PDF) 
2009 Cejka Search
Modern Medicine (2008 survey)

Join other physicians and have some interesting discussions on Sermo.