Educational Debt and Income Among Pharmacists and Other Health Professionals.

OBJECTIVE: Given the substantial increases in student educational loan debt in recent years, the objective was to assess trends in educational debt-to-income ratios for graduates of pharmacy, medicine, dentistry, optometry, and veterinary medicine programs in the United States in the 2017-2022 period. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of 2017-2022 data for educational debt and income for select health professions was conducted. Annual income data were collected from the American Community Survey, and educational debt data were collected from health professions organizations. Educational debt-to-income ratios for each health profession were calculated, as was the mean change per year in debt-to-income ratio. RESULTS: With the exception of medicine, educational debt consistently exceeded income across the selected health professions in the 2017-2022 period. Debt-to-income ratios of pharmacists and the remaining health professionals decreased on average per year between 2017 and 2022. Physicians had the lowest debt-to-income ratios and dentists had the highest debt-to-income ratios in the study period. CONCLUSION: Debt-to-income ratios fell below the 2017 levels for the health professions of interest, suggesting that average growth in income outpaced that of debt for the study period. Regardless, debt remains high and may influence health care professionals' postgraduate training and career decisions, and in turn affect access to health care. Therefore, a call to action is proposed to address educational debt burden. Several strategies are suggested, including federal policy changes, implementing tuition reductions or minimal increases, facilitating financial aid options, and reducing underlying costs of health professions programs.

Analysis of 10-year income trends for pharmacists and other select health professionals.

DISCLAIMER: In an effort to expedite the publication of articles, AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time. PURPOSE: To evaluate income trends among pharmacists and other select health professions (dentists, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, and physicians) in the US for the 10-year period of 2012 to 2021, with special attention given to the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021). METHODS: A retrospective analysis was conducted of 2012 to 2021 income data for select health professions, collected from the American Community Survey. Univariate time series analysis was conducted using exponential smoothing to examine income patterns over the 10-year study period and forecast income for the next 5-year period (2022 to 2026) for each health profession. Additionally, time series regression models were constructed for each health profession. Descriptive statistics (mean percent change in income and SD) were calculated for each health profession for the prepandemic era (2012 to 2019) and the first 2 years of the pandemic (2020 and 2021). RESULTS: Goodness-of-fit statistics for each forecast model indicate highly accurate forecasts. The model for each health profession indicates a significant positive trajectory in income (P < 0.001), although pharmacists are projected to have a lower rate of income growth among the 5 health professions for the next 5-year period, 2022 to 2026. During the first 2 years of the pandemic, pharmacists had the lowest mean percent change in income (mean, 2.0%; SD, 2.0%) among the 5 health professions. CONCLUSION: Growth in pharmacist income is projected to lag behind that in other health professions in the near future. Individual-, organization-, and profession-level strategies may facilitate opportunities for income growth among pharmacists.