Pay and the Retention of Navy Physicians

In recent years, the income gap between civilian and military physicians has widened. At the same time, income dispersion has increased for civilian physicians and remained narrow for military physicians. As a consequence, some military specialists are compensated at levels very close to the civilian level, whereas others receive relatively low compensation. In addition, retention is quite low for some specialties, and consistently high for others. This research memorandum explores the relationship between civilian-military pay gaps and retention for fully trained specialist physicians in the Navy. Three pay plans proposed to diminish the civilian-military pay gap are evaluated with regard to expected cost, projected impact on retention of physicians by specialty, and long-run implications for force management in the Navy.