Summary: The Federal Physicians Comparability Allowance Act, which was set to expire on September 30, 1997, allows federal agencies that are experiencing problems in recruiting and retaining physicians to provide comparability allowances to physicians who are paid under title 5 of the U.S. Code. As of September 1996, the federal government employed more than 25,000 full-time doctors. Most of these physicians paid under title 5 are with the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Defense. GAO found that the average annual pay for HHS physicians paid under title 5 was 17 percent less than the average pay for HHS physicians who received special pay under title 38, 21 percent less than the average for VA physicians paid under title 38, four percent more than the average for Commissioned Corps physicians, and 23 percent greater than the average for physicians in the military. For selected medical specialties, GAO found that private sector physicians were generally paid more--sometimes considerably more--than federal physicians who were paid under titles 37 and 38.
