Hey Soccer,

I wasn't suggesting that anyone makes $200k/yr. I was just illustrating that doctors are working twice as hard for 1/2 as much.

Also, I have a lot of friends who are research doctors at university's etc.
They are not pulling anywhere near the numbers that you suggest.

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"When two people agree on everything, one of them is not necessary" - Arliss

1. Academic (research) physicians make less but usually have less call, great benefits etc...i've heard numbers as low as 80k for a nephrologist,200k for anesthesiologist

Think of the 100s of millions of dollars that is spent on non patient care that u as a physician could tap into...
a..Locum tenen agencys... these are a group of individuals sitting in an office that have never met the administrators or physicians that they contract with....They charge 4-500 dollars a DAY for each physician on assignment...imagine a year contract, thats 170k ez money once that physicians starts.. the agency spend 90% of their time on the phone finding needs and scheduling docs... a hard business to get started but once the ball starts rolling and if the doc ever stays on permanently 30k finder fee
b....Management companies and i'll take anesthesia as an example here..hospitals(even gi centers) will actually pay companies(i could name at least 10) to come in and manage their OR/anesthesia providers in order to improve productivity...they guarantee all the providers salary and provide a substantial management fee...a few of these are owned by physicians..one is a friend of mine and he pulls in 4 million a year
http://clinicalpartners.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx
c...billing companies ... another whole industry that has embedded itself in health care...the typical anesthesia bill has at least a 5% billing cost... again some of these companies are physician run

You don't have to immerse yourself fully in these enterprises but a little indulgement can bring in ez 6 figures

SJ, are you an Anesthesiologist?

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Soccerjunky, if you are in anesthesia/pain, I think that is a great specialty to go into and perhaps the one I would most like to pursue at this point (many people change ideas in school I hear). There are many ways to practice from the OR to pain clinics. Many anest. I have spoken to really enjoy their work and the wide variety of procedures they get to perform. I understand anest. also specialize in all aspects of upper resp. and take over if the s--t hits the fan in the OR. I think one of my ideal jobs would be to join an anesth. group at a large hospital that shares in malpractice and schedules hours/vacation/etc.

I have read and spoken to more people, the sitiution doesnt seem as dire as some may read it, although it's certainly not what it used to be. As you said, there are countless ways to incorporate some business savy into medicine. And we should all be thankful that most physicians still remain steadfast and enjoy their work despite the growing number of hardships out of love for caring for patients and the thrill of cutting them open! The public perseption is that healthcare is a god-given right and this is reflected in the declining reimbursement for procedures, especially life saving ones. Never-the-less, a person who spends ~8 years to be able to practice while racking up as much as 200k in debt does not deserve to be called 'selfish' or in 'it for the wrone reasons' for seaking adequate pay. Medicine is also the only profession I can think of where the govt could theoretically come in and forceably reduce pay and chage the entire system. Please correct me if I'm wrong in any of these generalisations!

Thank you VERY MUCH for your input. I am very curious about the locum tenens concept you mentioned as I had never heard of that! I still very much look forward to beginning my path to doctor-dom next fall and at the end of a work day getting to go home feeling like a made a hads-on difference in some lives, literally. Best of luck to all of you in your professions and please add more if it strikes you.

Superior, after reading all your posts it seems like you really want to become involved in medicine. Don't let others deter you, if it makes you happy, go ahead and do it.

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