Average Annual Continuing Medical Education (CME) Allowance and Days that Doctors Get
- Nisha Mehta, MD
- May 14
- 9 min read
Updated: Jun 6
As part of our physician salary and compensation negotiation database that we offer as a free member resource, our physician members anonymously contribute information about benefits and other aspects of the compensation package such as annual CME stipends and paid CME days they receive a year. We’ve assessed the average CME stipend individually by specialty in our how much doctors make series and noted that CME allowances and structures can vary significantly by specialty and practice environment, so we wanted to compile the data in aggregate. Below, we look at both the average CME days and average CME stipends employers provide as part of their overall compensation packages for doctors.
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How Aggregate Stats for Continuing Medical Education (CME) Allowances Were Determined
For the analysis below, we used the 6,500+ anonymous datapoints contributed to our physician salary and compensation negotiation database from late 2023 to early 2025. While not required, physician members could include the CME stipend provided by their employer for the year, as well as the CME days received per year. To help determine an average for those who receive CME allowances as a benefit, we removed any blank contributions or contributions that stated they did not receive any. To standardize the data, if CME days were reported in hours, an 8 hour workday was assumed.
Some doctors reported unlimited CME days available; these data points were also removed to assess aggregate averages below.
How much CME Money do Doctors Get Annually, on Average?
Across all specialties, CME stipends ranged from as low as $200 to as high as $25,000s.
The average CME stipend across all specialties was $3,800, with a median stipend of $3,500.
Average CME Stipend by Practice Environment
Averages can vary by practice environment, so we assessed CME stipends by environment:
Corporate Groups, Non Private Equity: $3,700
Corporate Groups, Private Equity: $3,600
FQHCs and Other Non-Profit Groups: $2,800
Government Facilities (VA, City Hospital, Etc.): $1,600
Group Private Practices, Non-Private Equity Backed: $3,500
Group Private Practices, Private Equity Backed: $3,700
Academic Hospitals: $4,000
Non-Academic Hospitals: $4,200
Some of our solo private practice owners also included how much they, on average, spend for CME stipends for the year, which averaged to $2,800. Continuing education expenses are some of the expenses that are tax deductible for 1099 independent contractors and independent practices.
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Average CME Stipend by Specialty
Averages also vary across specialties, so we broke this down further.
Allergy & Immunology: $2,600
Anesthesiology: $4,200
Cardiology: $4,000
Critical Care Medicine: $4,500
Dermatology: $3,900
Emergency Medicine: $4,300
Endocrinology: $3,200
Family Medicine: $3,600
Gastroenterology: $3,500
Geriatric Medicine: $3,600
Hematology/Oncology: $4,900
Hospice & Palliative Care: $3,600
Hospital Medicine: $3,900
Infectious Disease: $3,500
Internal Medicine: $3,300
Nephrology: $3,700
Neurology: $4,300
OB/GYN: $3,800
Occupational Medicine: $3,000
Ophthalmology: $5,000
Orthopedics: $4,100
Otolaryngology (ENT): $4,200
Pain Management: $3,600
Pathology: $4,100
Pediatrics: $3,000
Physiatry (PM&R): $3,300
Psychiatry: $3,000
Pulmonary Medicine: $4,500
Radiation Oncology: $5,500
Radiology: $4,900
Rheumatology: $3,800
Sleep Medicine: $3,200
Surgery, Breast: $4,300
Surgery, General: $4,300
Surgery, Plastics & Reconstructive: $4,500
Surgery, Trauma: $4,250
Surgery, Vascular: $4,000
Sports Medicine: $4,300
Urgent Care: $3,100
Urology: $5,000
How Many CME Days Do Doctors Get a Year In their Contracts?
Along with information on CME stipends, our physicians members can also include how many CME days they receive a year. Annual CME days reported ranged from 1 day a year up to a maximum of 25 days. Across all specialties, the average CME days doctors get a year was 6 days. The median was 5 days.
Average CME Days by Practice Environment
As we saw with CME stipends, CME allowances can vary by practice environment, so we assessed the data by practice environments for CME days as well. Not surprisingly, academic hospitals had the highest average number of CME days, but overall there was not otherwise a huge variation in the number of CME days by practice environment.
Corporate Groups, Non Private Equity: 5.5 days
Corporate Groups, Private Equity: 5 days
FQHCs and Other Non-Profit Groups: 5 days
Government Facilities (VA, City Hospital, Etc.): 5.5 days
Group Private Practices, Non-Private Equity Backed: 5 days
Group Private Practices, Private Equity Backed: 5 days
Academic Hospitals: 7 days
Non-Academic Hospitals: 5.5 days
Solo private practice owners who reported the average number of CME days they took averaged 5 days a year.
The highest number of CME days per year were reported by physicians working for academic hospitals. Many doctors working in academic hospitals reported receiving 18-25 CME days a year, though several also reported only 1-3 days.
Median CME Days by Practice Environment
While academic hospitals averaged higher CME days annually than other practice environments, when looking at the median CME days, 5 days was consistent across all practice environments evaluated:
Corporate Groups, Non Private Equity: 5 days
Corporate Groups, Private Equity: 5 days
FQHCs and Other Non-Profit Groups: 5 days
Government Facilities (VA, City Hospital, Etc.): 5 days
Group Private Practices, Non-Private Equity Backed: 5 days
Group Private Practices, Private Equity Backed: 5 days
Academic Hospitals: 5 days
Non-Academic Hospitals: 5 days
Solo Private Practices: 5 days
The differences in averages versus medians typically comes from a wider range in reported CME days provided around the median value.
Average CME Days by Specialty
We also broke this down by specialty to assess trends.
Allergy & Immunology: 5.5 days
Anesthesiology: 6 days
Cardiology: 6 days
Critical Care Medicine: 5 days
Dermatology: 5 days
Emergency Medicine: 6 days
Endocrinology: 5.5 days
Family Medicine: 6.5 days
Gastroenterology: 7 days
Geriatrics: 5.5 days
Hematology/Oncology: 7 days
Hospice & Palliative Care: 5.5 days
Hospital Medicine: 5 days
Infectious Disease: 6 days
Internal Medicine: 5.5 days
Nephrology: 5 days
Neurology: 6 days
OB/GYN: 6 days
Ophthalmology: 7 days
Orthopedics: 6 days
Otolaryngology (ENT): 7 days
Pain Management: 5 days
Pathology: 6.5 days
Pediatricians: 5.5 days
Physiatry (PM&R): 5.5 days
Psychiatry: 5.5 days
Pulmonary Medicine: 6 days
Radiation Oncology: 8 days
Radiology: 8.5 days
Rheumatology: 5.5 days
Sports Medicine: 6.5 days
Surgery, Breast: 5 days
Surgery, General: 5.5 days
Surgery, Trauma: 7 days
Surgery, Vascular: 5.5 days
Urgent Care: 5 days
Urology: 6.5 days
If you don’t see your specialty included above, we don’t have enough data points to provide a reliable average yet. Please consider contributing anonymously to our physician salary and compensation database to see your specialty added.
Insights into CME Allowances for Doctors
As we reviewed the data, we noted a few additional insights that might be beneficial to doctors when negotiating their CME allowances:
Many doctors reported unlimited CME days, or flexible days depending on requests, as well as flexible reimbursements for related expenses, as long as expenses/days were justified.
Many doctors reported that if they were in private practices where they were paid in an eat what you kill model, there was more flexibility to take CME as desired, as long as the total days off including sick days and vacation days were within the allotted maximum days.
Some employers offered a standard allowance, but additional funds and days were available if requested and approved
Additional funds and CME days may be available if presenting
Some employers offered a set allowance for full-time employees and a lower prorated amount for part-time employees
Some employers offered CME stipends based on the physician’s standard compensation for a work day
Some physicians have their CME stipend pooled with other expenses, such as their medical license and DEA expenses, and/or their CME days pooled with other paid time off, such as paid vacation days and sick time.
Some employers offer additional CME stipends if you are double board certified
Can Doctors Negotiate CME Allowances?
This will likely depend in part on the practice environment. The larger the employer or institution, the more likely that they are to stick to a standard package. However, even within large employers such as academic institutions, some physicians can likely negotiate more CME allotment days if a large focus of their employed role has to do with research or teaching, so don’t assume that it’s impossible. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
In other environments, like smaller private practice groups, doctors may be more readily able to negotiate their CME allowances, including their stipends and/or their paid days off. Most of this leverage will be when negotiating a new employment contract or renegotiating an existing contract.
Some employers, as noted above, also offer flexibility to negotiate each year or by instance, if the expenses are justified.
During the employment agreement negotiating process, consider how important your CME allowance is and how much difference you hope to negotiate versus what is already being offered. While it’s possible to negotiate these terms, it’s important to understand that you have to pick your priorities at a negotiating table. For most doctors, the number of CME days that they get is not the dealbreaker in the contract, and they may be better off focusing on things that might be, like salary, other PTO, or noncompetes or tail insurance, for example.
Along with the data above and our full salary and compensation database, a contract review attorney can help you determine what’s standard practice for comparable jobs, and can even help you negotiate your CME allowance and other terms of your employment agreement.
Where Can Doctors Use Their Continuing Medical Education (CME) Funds?
CME allowances are typically use it or lose it, so we frequently see questions in our online physician community looking for recommendations for spending their CME funds. Employers may set specific reimbursement guidelines, so always check your institution’s or practice’s policy, but CME allowances can often be used for a wide range of continuing education expenses, such as:
Educational courses and conferences, in person and virtual
Online CME subscriptions and platforms
Textbooks and medical journals
Related travel expenses for in-person events
Licensing and other professional fees
We have a ton of CME discounts and perks, including discounts on CME eligible health tech conferences, unique CME opportunities while traveling, board review courses, and more. You can also explore creative ways physicians can use their CME funds.
CME Options for Doctors Without Allowances
If your employer doesn’t offer a CME allowance, there are other potential ways to help reduce your out-of-pocket continuing education expenses. UpToDate offers CME as you learn through their platform. If your employer doesn’t offer UpToDate through work, Physician Side Gigs, through its collaboration with Wolters Kluwer, offers a discount on annual or longer personal UpToDate subscriptions as a special member benefit. You can find promo codes and discount information on the communities (physicians save 15% and trainees save 20% on an annual or longer subscription to UpToDate).
Doctors can also earn CME through OpenEvidence, the leading AI-powered medical information platform for physicians. It is free and unlimited for physicians, and built from the ground up to give trustable, verifiable information. Learn more and sign up today through our affiliate link.
Additional Salary and Career Resources for Doctors
Explore our related articles and resources on doctor compensation and CME:
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If you need guidance on negotiating your next contract for the best possible deal, check out: