Family physician pay inequality: a qualitative study exploring how physician responses to perceived patient expectations may explain gender, race, and immigration status pay differences.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pay inequality related to social identity has been observed among physicians, even after accounting for hours worked and specialty. Physician identity factors, such as gender and race, may contribute to practice behaviours in ways that affect income. In this study, we sought to explore how Ontario family physicians understand the relation between their identities and practice patterns and to form a theory of how identities may influence practice decisions in ways that result in income disparities.

Methods

We conducted a constructivist grounded theory study to understand how social identities affect income discrepancies among physicians. We conducted interviews with family physicians practising in Ontario. Physicians were purposively and then theoretically sampled

SUBMITTER: Dutt M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12629094 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature