Alaska has fewer physician residents-in-training than any other U.S. state except Wyoming. Together with Alaska’s remote location, nine hundred miles from Washington State, these factors create one of the most challenging markets for attracting and retaining physicians.
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Alaska: The Outlier State for Physician Services
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All U.S. hospitals report their numbers of physician residents on their annual Medicare cost reports for both hospital-based and non-hospital based programs. According to this data, Alaska ranks just below Wyoming as the state with the least number of residents in training. Residency training programs are major physician recruiting sources. A lack of residents makes physician recruitment much more expensive.
Reported Physician Residents in Training (2022)
According to ACGME, the accrediting organization for residency training programs, Providence Alaska Medical Center is the only organization in Alaska that sponsors resident training. Four specialty training programs have rotations in Alaska (Family Med, Internal Med, Addiction Med, Hospice & Palliative Care).
Beyond Providence, the University of Washington’s Soldotna internal medicine program also has 4-6 residents rotating through Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage and Central Peninsula Hospital in Soldotna. By comparison, University of Washington has about 220 internal medicine residents between Seattle and Everett, Washington.
Not having enough physicians is not only a problem for patients and hospitals. Not having enough physicians is a problem for health insurance companies as well.
Under the Affordable Care Act of 2010, health insurance carriers are required to include minimum essential health benefits in certain types of health plans. These requirements affect individual and employer-sponsored small business health plans that are sold both on and off the health insurance exchanges. Carriers tend to offer the same exact health plans on exchanges as they offer to employers off exchanges as well.
While Premera Blue Cross has 50 percent or more of the commercial reimbursement market in Anchorage and Fairbanks, that doesn’t mean a whole lot if there are not enough physicians in Premera’s health plans. Premera can not sell health plans to employers effectively if they do not include minimum essential health benefits.
Physician Specialists in Alaska
Incidentally, Premera Blue Cross of Alaska pays some of the highest specialist reimbursement rates in the entire U.S. There are not very many physicians in Alaska compared to other states, but physicians that live in Alaska are reimbursed very well.
Medicare pays a substantial premium for professional physician services in Alaska. On top of that, Premera reimbursement rates regularly range from 300% to 600% or more of Alaska’s Medicare rate for specialist procedures, including hernia repairs, orthopedic knee scopes, and spinal fusions.
Premera BCBS Alaska Specialist Reimbursement:
General, Ortho, & Spine Surgery
Primary Care Physicians in Alaska
Outside of specialist procedures, primary care services are also paid well, though their markups on Medicare are not as big. Most primary care physicians in Alaska can expect to receive between 200% and 300% of Alaska Medicare rates for level 4 office visits. Very few Alaskan primary care physicians receive less than 200% of Medicare for office visits.
Premera BCBS Alaska Primary Care Reimbursement:
Family, Internal Medicine, & Pediatric
Physician Compensation in Alaska
While practice expenses are somewhat higher in Alaska, the premium on commercial reimbursement rates far exceeds the increased expenses. Alaskan physicians who can maintain productivity can expect to out earn their peers from the lower 48 states.
According to the 2025 edition of the Acuvance DataRise Provider Compensation Data: Expanded Alaska Edition subscription, Alaskan physicians earn the highest compensation rates in the U.S. for most of the specialties reported.
Family Medicine Physician Compensation: Multiple States
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