DoctorCalculator

Trust

Data sources

Everything DoctorCalculator shows is either verified public data, a labeled public-data proxy, a labeled external benchmark, or an explicitly modeled layer. No licensed compensation surveys are ingested or redistributed. Medicare and Open Payments figures are public-data proxies, not W-2 salary, total collections, or take-home income.

Critical Distinction

We strictly separate verified public datasets from DoctorCalculator synthetic or directional assumptions. When we use a public proxy (like CMS data), it is cited with its exact limitation. When we use an internal assumption (like the exact buy-in ceiling of an ASC), it is labeled as a directional assumption, not as a factual data point. We never blur the line to feign precision.

CMS Physician Fee Schedule (RVU files, GPCI Addendum E, physician time file)

Verified public data
  • Vintage: CY 2026 (July correction release). Auto-refreshed each CMS release
  • Can prove: Work/PE/MP RVUs, conversion factor, global periods, CMS physician-time assumptions, locality payment indices
  • Cannot prove: Anyone's actual salary, collections, or contract rate

Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners PUF

Public-data proxy
  • Vintage: Latest annual release (aggregates only)
  • Can prove: What each specialty bills Medicare: code mix, volumes, allowed amounts, plain-language procedure descriptions
  • Cannot prove: Income. Medicare is one payer with an older patient mix; amounts are practice payments. Rows under 11 beneficiaries are suppressed

NPPES NPI registry

Public-data proxy
  • Vintage: Latest monthly file at ingestion
  • Can prove: Registry roster size and taxonomy/geography distribution of registered clinicians
  • Cannot prove: Verified active practice, FTE status, or workforce supply/demand

CMS Open Payments

Public-data proxy
  • Vintage: Latest program year at ingestion
  • Can prove: Reported industry transfers of value and ownership interests, aggregated by sector
  • Cannot prove: Personal income. Royalty/consulting values are not earnings statements; research is often institution-directed

BLS OEWS (non-medicine career comparisons)

Verified public data
  • Vintage: May 2024 national estimates
  • Can prove: Median/percentile wages for comparison occupations (software developers, lawyers, engineers, dentists, PAs)
  • Cannot prove: Top-of-market niches (Big Tech, Big Law). Those use labeled external benchmarks instead

Public pay scales (Cravath/market law scale; published tech/finance/consulting scales)

External benchmark
  • Vintage: 2026 published scales
  • Can prove: Advertised lockstep pay at scale-following firms
  • Cannot prove: Median outcomes across the whole profession; attrition and non-scale employers differ

DoctorCalculator path & income models

Modeled layer
  • Vintage: Hand-authored against a physician-reviewed taxonomy; versioned on /methodology
  • Can prove: Directional, confidence-labeled comparisons of paths across 10 dimensions
  • Cannot prove: Individual outcomes; several specialties are derived models labeled 'directional'

CPT/HCPCS compliance

Procedure descriptions on this site are CMS plain-language consumer descriptors from the Medicare public use file or original summaries written by DoctorCalculator. AMA-copyrighted CPT descriptor text is not shipped; an automated test guards this on every data rebuild. CPT® is a registered trademark of the American Medical Association.

Currently shipped dataset versions

  • RVU / fee-schedule reference (CMS PFS): 2026.Jul · 2026-07-08 · CF $33.4009 · CMS National Physician Fee Schedule Relative Value File RVU26A (Jan 2026 release
  • Ingestion: nppes: success · 2026-07-08 · 9,606,683 rows
  • Ingestion: cms_physician: success · 2026-07-08 · 9,660,647 rows
  • Ingestion: open_payments: manual_required · 2026-07-08
  • Ingestion: clinical_trials: not_implemented · 2026-07-08
  • Ingestion: fda_510k: manual_required · 2026-07-08
  • Ingestion: bls_oews: success · 2026-07-08 · 100 rows
  • Ingestion: bea_rpp: success · 2026-07-08 · 100 rows
  • Ingestion: census_acs: success · 2026-07-08 · 100 rows
  • Ingestion: cms_asc: error · 2026-07-08
  • Ingestion: clinicaltrials: success · 2026-07-08 · 100 rows
  • BEA Regional Price Parities: 2024 · 2026-07-08 · 438 aggregate rows · U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis Regional Price Parities
  • HUD Fair Market Rents: 2026 · 2026-07-08 · 12 aggregate rows · U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Fair Market Rents
  • Census ACS household context: 2023 · 2026-07-08 · 51 aggregate rows · U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey table B19013
  • Benchmark-triangulated income models: 2026-07 · 2026-07-08 · 75 lanes across 21 specialties · cited public anchors
  • Procedure-taxonomy candidates: 21 specialties · 2026-07-08 · Machine-checked; clinician review promotes coverage tiers

Deeper method detail, readiness levels, and limitations: Methodology.