Physician shortage is boosting the pay of nonphysician primary care providers. Salaries of nonphysician providers increased 8.44% in the last five years and 17.43% in the last 10 years. For NPs, compensation grew 7.93% between 2013 and 2017 and 29.76% from 2008 to 2017, the latter comparable to the increase in salaries for physician assistants, which rose 25.28% from 2008 to 2017 (although NPs receive higher signing bonuses and stipends for continuing medical education than physician assistants). Competitive compensation packages are needed to maintain the numbers of providers necessary to meet the needs of the growing aging population, according to the latest numbers from the Medical Group Management Association. The report's data are from 136,000 professionals working in 5,800 organizations.