Health care provider vs physician

The differences between health care providers and physicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a physician has an average salary of $238,887, which is higher than the $39,309 average annual salary of a health care provider.

The top three skills for a health care provider include patients, meal prep and mental health. The most important skills for a physician are patients, surgery, and patient care.

Health care provider vs physician overview

	Health Care Provider	Physician
Yearly salary	$39,309	$238,887
Hourly rate	$18.90	$114.85
Growth rate	36%	7%
Number of jobs	236,098	46,489
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 35%
Average age	50	48
Years of experience	-	4

What does a health care provider do?

A health care provider offers health care services such as the diagnosis of diseases in medical laboratories, imaging centers, or treatment services. Your job responsibility as a health care provider may be to look after the well-being of patients and provide specific medical care to them. Your job is to meet clients at the point of their needs when they have medical challenges and provide a solution to them.

What does a physician do?

Physicians' general responsibility is to check, diagnose, and treat a patient's condition to improve their overall wellness. A physician could be General Practitioners or Specialist Physicians, wherein General Practitioners are physicians who provide regular checkups for patients depending on their needs and refer them to a Specialist Physicians who are more skilled in a particular field of expertise for a thorough diagnosis. Physicians monitor a patient's medical history and ensure follow-up checkups to observe if the condition of a patient is changing over time. A physician may refer a patient to other health professionals for further examination as needed.

Health care provider vs physician salary

Health care providers and physicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Health Care Provider	Physician
Average salary	$39,309	$238,887
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $61,000	Between $128,000 And $442,000
Highest paying City	-	Cleveland, TN
Highest paying state	-	Wisconsin
Best paying company	-	Yuma Regional Medical Center
Best paying industry	-	Health Care

Differences between health care provider and physician education

There are a few differences between a health care provider and a physician in terms of educational background:

	Health Care Provider	Physician
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 31%	Bachelor's Degree, 35%
Most common major	Business	Medicine
Most common college	-	Duke University

Health care provider vs physician demographics

Here are the differences between health care providers' and physicians' demographics:

	Health Care Provider	Physician
Average age	50	48
Gender ratio	Male, 20.1% Female, 79.9%	Male, 39.0% Female, 61.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 24.0% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 23.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 35.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%	Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 9.7% Asian, 19.1% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	5%	13%

Differences between health care provider and physician duties and responsibilities

Health care provider example responsibilities.

Manage ventilator settings, suction tracheostomy, tube-feeding assistance.
Provide assistance including administering prescribe oral medications to ADL patients.
Maintain all client confidentiality, licensing and CPR compliance records.
Full personal care attendant, CPR license, documentation, friendly and courteous.
Help with daily activities, transfers, bathing, medical documentation, ordering supplies, and catheter care.
Provide support and aid in problematic situations involving incontinence, cognitive impairment, mobility, and Alzheimer care.

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Physician example responsibilities.

Manage catheters and dress wounds.
Maintain ACLS and BLS certifications.
Treat complicated oncology cases in ICU and emergency.
Schedule new, follow-up and diagnostic testing for cardiology patients.
Attend radiation oncology clinic for new patients beginning treatment as well as follow-ups for returning patients.
Schedule tests and procedures (including radiology, cardiology, and respiratory) utilizing the hospital and clinic computer systems.

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Health care provider vs physician skills

Common health care provider skills

Patients, 27%
Meal Prep, 11%
Mental Health, 9%
Social Work, 8%
Laundry Services, 7%
Home Health, 7%

Common physician skills

Patients, 22%
Surgery, 8%
Patient Care, 7%
Internal Medicine, 6%
Primary Care, 6%
EMR, 6%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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