Potential Earnings of Neurologist

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Domerr said:
Starting income of 300K+? I've only heard of one such instance, and that graduating resident went to the middle of no where. For everyone else that wants to live with civilization (metropolitan or suburban), what range is realistic? I've read it's mostly in the mid-upper 100K range, but I want to confirm these values with people that actually applied for jobs in the recent years. I'll be graduating med school with 200K+ loan, so money is an important factor.

Thanks guys
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Believe me or not as you wish. Whether you've heard of it or not, it's absolutely true. I just took a job last year so these numbers are fresh. And I don't mean only for "geographically undesirable" locations.

You guys know this information has been discussed a good bit on this forum and salary information is in the MGMA threads of the general residency forum? You may be pleasantly surprised by what you find.
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Some of you with the 300K+ offers, what region of the country are you from? The numbers you guys provide just doesn't match with any salary/income surveys. Even MGMA says the medium income for Neuro is 230K'ish.
 
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Call me a pessimist, but those numbers just don't make sense... Anyone want to take a guess as to why neuro income in surveys are always numbered so low? Heck, Medscape states 184K is the mean, but here you guys are saying that 180K is the lower range for starting income? Even MGMA, which is claimed by some to overestimate, states 230K...
 
Domerr said:
Call me a pessimist, but those numbers just don't make sense... Anyone want to take a guess as to why neuro income in surveys are always numbered so low? Heck, Medscape states 184K is the mean, but here you guys are saying that 180K is the lower range for starting income? Even MGMA, which is claimed by some to overestimate, states 230K...
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With all due respect, I don't know what else you want me to say. I'm telling you personal experience that I had from just last year. I'm sorry you apparently think that I'm confused. I was only trying to help you. In my experience MGMA has proven quite accurate, and indeed serves as a base for many employers to calculate your salary from.

I gave you the salary range I found for private practice. Currently, neurologists are in relatively strong demand. This has progressively driven salary up over the past couple of years.

If you wish, check out some of the doctors' job websites or contact any of the multitude of physician recruiting firms and you'll be flooded with these job offers.

I wish you luck with your search.
 
You have to realize that the "salary" numbers may include academic type hospital positions, Staff model HMO's, government jobs (NIH, military). In the non academic world, a lot of hospitals are hiring their own neurologists or contracting with groups to provide inpatient coverage, as more established neurologists have moved away from hospital coverage. I can easily see a strictly inpatient neurologist generating revenues from his own RVU's of 30-45k/month. For the hospital's revenue stream, the DRG for TPA administration is twice that for a straight stroke so they have an incentive to get inpatient/ER coverage. This is something that a person negotiating with a hospital for an inpatient position should realize and leverage to their advantage.

On the outpatient private practice side, for a member of a group with a comprehensive neurodiagnostic lab, vascular lab, sleep, and in some states, imaging, the MGMA numbers are laughably low for long term earning potential.
 
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Yes, the 300k numbers are true. The key is to find a larger neurohospitalist group that pays their physicians equitably instead of crapping on the new guy. And to the poster who was worried these numbers were false advertising because business would be taken away by competition, that just doesn't make sense. People are admitted to the hospital for stroke / other neurological problem. You join a neurohospitalist group who sees all of these patients that are admitted to the hospital. You joining the team doesn't change the influx of patients in any way.
 
Anyone else wants to chime in?

@danielmd06:
I appreciate your posts, and I don't think you're confused. Also, I did check out several physician job websites, and I do see several jobs with 300K+ starting. Heck, even family med has offers that start in that range. However, I've been warned by many residents and fellows to be wary of those offers. There's a reason why they dish out such high numbers. Most of the graduating residents I've talked to ended up accepting jobs with much lower starting income (upper 100K to lower 200K).

Anyhow I'm not trying to flame anyone. It's just that I don't think you can use those recruitment/job websites as a gauge for what to expect in terms of compensation.
 
Domerr said:
Anyone else wants to chime in?

@danielmd06:
I appreciate your posts, and I don't think you're confused. Also, I did check out several physician job websites, and I do see several jobs with 300K+ starting. Heck, even family med has offers that start in that range. However, I've been warned by many residents and fellows to be wary of those offers. There's a reason why they dish out such high numbers. Most of the graduating residents I've talked to ended up accepting jobs with much lower starting income (upper 100K to lower 200K).

Anyhow I'm not trying to flame anyone. It's just that I don't think you can use those recruitment/job websites as a gauge for what to expect in terms of compensation.
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I agree, the trick is to be careful. The blade cuts both ways. You can sell yourself too short by letting larger city types in cushier practices con you into accepting a job for low-ball offers, too. Just because the salary is low, doesn't mean it's a sweeter deal. Just because a starting salary is high, doesn't mean the hospital is a slaughterhouse or in the middle of the desert in New Mexico. Your friends are correct to warn you to be careful of high salaries being offerred "for a reason," but be aware that low salaries can be your reward for similarly difficult startup positions.

You've certainly got to pay attention to how large your catchment area and potential patient base is, what the payor mix is, what procedures you can do (if any), what the call schedule is (and does it involve telemedicine services or are you driving in at 2AM for acute stroke call), how many others are in the practice, if there is a partnership track, is malpractice covered, what about health/dental insurance for yourself and your family, how are the patients split up in the practice (are your patients going to be the headache/chronic pain/chronic dizziness Medicaid types whilst the private insurance EMG cases go to senior folks), and so on and so forth...

All that glitters is not gold. A job with zero on-call responsibilties might be worth a huge pile of cash off the top of a base salary to the right person. Benefits (or lack thereof) can be a major factor in how much or how little you're truly being offerred...not just the first flashy number you see.

Obviously, the places with greater need offer greater remuneration...but that's the point. The highest I ever "heard" of topped out at $600. It got no takers that year. Just don't for one second think all the high paying starting jobs are like that (or that you cannot wind up with a job in the $180's that is brutal if you're not careful).

Caveat emptor.

I'd say with confidence that a typical applicant should be able to find a reasonably cushy job, in a reasonably posh location, for a start of $250 based upon my expericences last year.

Finally, all graduates should be aware that subtle factors may play a big role in this game. Issues like your ability to mesh with the group, your ability to connect with the local patient populace, how skilled you are at selling yourself, your personal communication skills, fellowship training with diagnostic testing possibilities, or how your references go to bat for you when they get a phone call can all play a substantial role in this.

Maybe it's fair, and maybe it's not...but it's the real world.
 
danielmd06 said:
Think about it. Because outpatient neurology pays better and doesn't involve taking inpatient call. People will pay you a premium to do this service for a practice so *they* don't have to go in at 2AM and deal with the ED phone calls throughout their office day.
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Medicine will do the admissions, you just do the consults in the morning. Neurohospitalists could just be consultants not primary. It makes your life much easier and you should not deal with all the electrolytes and medical issues.
 
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RAD345 said:
Medicine will do the admissions, you just do the consults in the morning. Neurohospitalists could just be consultants not primary. It makes your life much easier and you should not deal with all the electrolytes and medical issues.
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Agree with you. And barring a potential for IVtPA, you should practically never need to go into the hospital immediately (or not even for tPA if you have telemedicine) for general neurology with a set-up like that. On a side note, I always found it curious how residency was (and is) the complete opposite of this model for most of us. C'est la vie.

But back to my original point, some people don't want to do inpatient neurology even as a consultant, and that's one of the reasons I think you find these jobs more and more often in neurology right now. Another is the desire of hospitals to be able to have 24/7 neurologic coverage for certifications, accreditation, designation as a center of excellence, etc.

It's a Good Thing for most applicants because it deepens job opportunities and potential paycheck. And if you want to stick to exclusive outpatient practices you can have that option, too.
 
Hospitals want to be certified stroke centers because they want the DRG of around $15K per tPA case. They usually instruct the ER to call any presenting neurologic problem a "stroke alert" of which 1-2% may actually qualify - guess who gets called with STAT pages for all of those. They then accumulate this "data" to show CMS all of the stroke business they are getting. Even if most patients are not tPA candidates, the hospitals want all of the ancillary testing done at their facility and if they don't have a neurologist on call none of the hospitalists will want to admit neuro patients which can significantly affect a hospital's daily census. Sometimes the hospitals are nice enough to pay a small stipend for your 24h availability (or not if you are employed).
 
The "demand" is there, but the medium income for neurohospitalist is still 220K... Medicine is the only field where demand ≠ income potential. Poor primary care...
 
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the last 2 that came out of our program that went straight neurohospitalist each got 350k
 
Are Neurohospitalist schedules usually 7 on, 7 off, or 14/14?

Is it possible to also see patients in the clinic during the off weeks?
 
OasisMan said:
the last 2 that came out of our program that went straight neurohospitalist each got 350k
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Back in my college days, I had a classmate that was really arrogant. He actually believed that he was smarter than ALL of his professors. Indeed he was a bright lad, but he was lazy too. He was too good to even do assignments that although simple, were crucial for grades. Due to his laziness, he actually would earn subpar grades at times.

I found it ironic that "Sam" (made up name) always told his friends (who worshipped him for being so smart) that he always got a 98% on every exam. I took physics with Sam, sat behind him in class. One day, the prof handed out graded exams and I unintentionally saw that Sam had a 75% on his test. Just then, Sam's friend said, "so, Sam, how'd you do". And what did Sam say? "I got a 98%"

Okay, my point here is, let's see paycheck or tax return of on of these guys. I would approach these high paying jobs with caution, there is always some "tricky" accounting. Or, as another has already commented, consider geographic area.

Where I am located, I could live like a sultan on $350K per year. Put me in the southern California or Washington DC, well, then I might be able to afford living in a a shed on a concrete pad.

I would be cautious towards joining an established group. That is when tricky accounting and unexpected things come up. Comb over those contracts!! You do have to wonder what is realistic? I mean I never get a postcard with some burned out guy on the front in a white coat reading and EEG with the headline, "bring your family to a crappy city and make 180K". Yet, it would seem as if every postcard I get in the mail indicates that every job in Neurology is in a beautiful town where I can play endless golf, reel in trophy bass, have the best education in the world for my children, make a huge salary, blah blah blah.
 
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I think you forgot to add that every outstanding job opportunity is just "minutes" away from world class shopping, dining and a very international airport.
 
sarcoid said:
Are Neurohospitalist schedules usually 7 on, 7 off, or 14/14?

Is it possible to also see patients in the clinic during the off weeks?
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it could be any thing you could imagine.

8am-5pm, oncall q3N or q7N, do just consults and see whatever neuro consults comes up in the hospital, like a neurology consult rotation month, the difference is you could leave hospital earlier if you are done with your day consults.

7 days on, 7 days off, and then you end up doing about 2 month 7 nights on, that nobody mentions it but it is there for sure. You do all the admissions and every thing else, including tucking patient into their beds! ;-)
Emory is trying to establish this model that include rounding with residents too. Again, the pay is not $300K.

14 days on, 14 days off do exist but it again comes up with doing night calls too at least for 1.5- 2 months like night float system: 7pm to 7am
 
We're all talking big here, 300K+ and all. In realisty, shouldn't 250K (in a good location) already be hard enough to find? I mean, we're talking starting income here. In most specialties, starting income tend to start lower than average income.

A question for danielmd. Did you graduate from the top 10 Neuro program or something? Or did you mostly search via Job websites/recruiters? I'm just trying to figure out why your job search experience differed so much from the residents/fellows at my place.
 
Domerr said:
We're all talking big here, 300K+ and all. In realisty, shouldn't 250K (in a good location) already be hard enough to find? I mean, we're talking starting income here. In most specialties, starting income tend to start lower than average income.

A question for danielmd. Did you graduate from the top 10 Neuro program or something? Or did you mostly search via Job websites/recruiters? I'm just trying to figure out why your job search experience differed so much from the residents/fellows at my place.
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Daniel is not the only one with that experience.


neurochica said:
Neurology, I am in the same position. I been offered a stroke fellowship at my home institution and I am been debating whether to accept a neurohospitalist job with a base pay of $315k plus incentatives working 7 on 7 off 10 hr shift. I have no intention of going academics and I am really struggling with this decision.
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neurochica said:
It all depends of what YOU are looking for. My criteria was simple:

Small-medium size community—less than 150,000 within driving distance to a big city.
Low crime (very important)
Residency stipend
Starting at least 75% MGMA Base+ production.
7on-7off work schedule

All of this criteria is met on this practice. However, just like Daniel said, what is also important is how well you gel with the group. I won’t know until I get there (If I accept the position of course).
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http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=12564576#post12564576
 
We all know 300K+ jobs exist, especially in smaller communities, which was what neurochica was looking for. But that wasn't my question.
 
Domerr said:
We all know 300K+ jobs exist, especially in smaller communities, which was what neurochica was looking for. But that wasn't my question.
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Seems valid to me:

Domerr said:
We're all talking big here, 300K+ and all. In realisty, shouldn't 250K (in a good location) already be hard enough to find? I mean, we're talking starting income here. In most specialties, starting income tend to start lower than average income.
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Domerr said:
Some of you with the 300K+ offers, what region of the country are you from? The numbers you guys provide just doesn't match with any salary/income surveys. Even MGMA says the medium income for Neuro is 230K'ish.
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You are doubting that $300k offers are out there and state that $250k is going to be hard to find. As others have said, there are jobs offering $300k. As Daniel pointed out there are even some offering $600k. But you need to look at the fine details and see if it is a good fit for you. Academics vs. private vs. hospital employee. Large urban tertiary care center vs. small community hospital. East coast vs. west coast vs. other. The basic principle goes back to supply and demand. More desirable placed will have lower starting salaries. Those having a hard time attracting someone will have a higher starting salary. But no two job offers are the same due to various factors influencing your potential setup.
 
Now you're just putting words in someone else's mouth. Didn't I just say "We all know 300K+ jobs exist?" No one is doubting the fact that 300K+ exists. And how many times do I have to stress the "location" part? Some of us want to stay in metro and/or nearby suburban regions.
 
Domerr said:
A question for danielmd. Did you graduate from the top 10 Neuro program or something? Or did you mostly search via Job websites/recruiters? I'm just trying to figure out why your job search experience differed so much from the residents/fellows at my place.
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After two job interviews through them I avoided websites and recruiters like the plague and did my own hunting. I fared much better that way. Found better locations, and even some better paying opportunities. The job board at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine homepage helped me tremendously. Sleep jobs aren't typically advertised in the green journal or AAN publications. I ultimately found the job I took posted via the AASM.

My training was strong but under no circumstances was I from a top school. I graduated from as medium a competition neurology residency as you can find. For fellowship, I found a gem of a program in the Midwest with outstanding faculty that most people would never have considered due to it's location. Both programs ironically trained me perfectly for private practice in terms of high volume bread and butter neurology and sleep. Slight emphasis on research was at both, but not an outstanding feature.

Honestly not trying to paint a false picture for anyone here. I truly think that a solid $250 start should be very do-able for an average applicant (in a desirable city, with a reasonable case load). You certainly expect more or less depending on the year, the location, the acuity of need at the place, the call schedule, and how well they think you'll "fit" with their vision of what they want. If somebody important at a job site thinks you're "perfect," then they'll be willing to throw more incentive in your direction to catch you.

I don't have a clue why my experiences potentially differed from those of others. My fellowship was in sleep medicine (which might have added bargaining power due to higher reimbursements for reading sleep studies). I've been told that I "sell myself" well, and am good at communication. Perhaps these traits helped? For the record, I got some salary offers that were strikingly low, and others that were very generous. It all just depended. I probably went on a total of 12-14 interviews, turned down another 15, and received a job offer at every single place I interviewed at. Perhaps having a number of potential jobs in the bag gave me leverage and confidence in carrying on talks with hiring people? I really cannot say. But make no mistake that I'm sincerely just trying to help any future neurologists with advice here, and am not just blowing smoke. I wish more fresh attending level people had posted their experiences when I was job hunting. C'est la vie.

I would counsel people to remember that you do have some negotiating strength with regard to a contract. Remember that salary and benefits can be altered. Don't let people take (too much) advantage of you!

Best of luck.
 
Domerr said:
Now you're just putting words in someone else's mouth. Didn't I just say "We all know 300K+ jobs exist?" No one is doubting the fact that 300K+ exists. And how many times do I have to stress the "location" part? Some of us want to stay in metro and/or nearby suburban regions.
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Domerr, I think the problem is that you make comments like "the numbers you guys provide just doesn't match with any salary/income surveys" as if people on here are lying about the offers they have been getting. As others have said, no two job offers are going to be the exact same. So if you are looking for a specific type of job setup in a particular city you are going to be much more limited in your options. So I'm not sure what your point is either? You make statements like the offers people on here are ridiculous and nothing that you have ever seen before but then later on admit that $300k offers do exist out there. Yes location is a big part of the equation. That is what everyone has been saying.
 
Consider all the benefits of the job

Salary 235,000
Health Insurance 18,000
Malpractice 15,000
Profit sharing plan 30,000
Hospital staff dues 1,000
Association Dues 2,000

Is this a 235k or a 300k job?
 
neurolddoc said:
Consider all the benefits of the job

Salary 235,000
Health Insurance 18,000
Malpractice 15,000
Profit sharing plan 30,000
Hospital staff dues 1,000
Association Dues 2,000

Is this a 235k or a 300k job?
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250 K job with potential bonus of 30k (profit sharing). Wouldn't count malpractice or dues in salary.
 
danielmd06 said:
I don't have a clue why my experiences potentially differed from those of others. My fellowship was in sleep medicine (which might have added bargaining power due to higher reimbursements for reading sleep studies). I've been told that I "sell myself" well, and am good at communication. Perhaps these traits helped? For the record, I got some salary offers that were strikingly low, and others that were very generous. It all just depended. I probably went on a total of 12-14 interviews, turned down another 15, and received a job offer at every single place I interviewed at. Perhaps having a number of potential jobs in the bag gave me leverage and confidence in carrying on talks with hiring people? I really cannot say. But make no mistake that I'm sincerely just trying to help any future neurologists with advice here, and am not just blowing smoke. I wish more fresh attending level people had posted their experiences when I was job hunting. C'est la vie.

I would counsel people to remember that you do have some negotiating strength with regard to a contract. Remember that salary and benefits can be altered. Don't let people take (too much) advantage of you!

Best of luck.
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Agh but let me enlighten some here as to some of "tricks" that I have been talking about. Myself and a colleague both looked at potential jobs at a brand new hospital. She was sleep trained. The hospital was invested in building a medical office building right next door and they tried to convince me to build an office in that particular building. Wheneve rI looked into it with the real estate developer, there was an astronomical buy in and of course, the leasing fees were out of site!! I said, "no way"!!! I opted to just lease space that I did not own and was much more economical. I got all of these stern warnings:

"Oh, this is an opportunity, these office suites will sell fast!!"
"We won't give a deal like this to you in the future!!"
Blah blah blah!!!

Well, guess what? Half of that office building today stands empty!!

So what are they going to fill that space with?

Oh, here it comes, the punchline!----------


A SLEEP LAB!!!

So my colleague that is a sleep trained doctor was offered a generous salary, yes, but was also informed that she would have no choice but to buy into this horrendously expensive office building and sleep lab. They were insistent, absolutely told her that there was no way she would have privileges to read sleep studies unless she was part owner of the lab/office space. She decided it was just not worth it. But at the end of the day, they put a nice salary figure on paper.

Now daniel's experience was much different (or so I would hope) but I do agree with him, negotiate, negotiate, negotiate!!!

I waffled at first on my opportunity, told them I was thinking about taking a year off to do fellowship. They said, "this opportunity may not be here in a year". Yeah, that is BS!!! Using my office space example above, boy they were pushy, but I told them to back off. I nearly ripped up my contract in their faces over it. Next thing you know, I receive a much more economical and reasonable offer.

Hey, that thing in the middle that none of us studies, the gut, don't ignore it!!! Sometimes, you will be sorry that you do!!
 
Excellent anecdote. People should read this and remember that you are your own best advocate, and unlike in training, there are not mentors around the corner trying to help you do well. People under financial pressure can rationalize a lot of marginal behaviors. When you see that crazy high salary quote, try to figure out why they are an outlier before you start high-fiving the practice manager.

Conversely, when you do find a mentor that truly acts in your best interests, hang on with both hands. Many people will be willing to help you when your desires facilitate theirs. Few will still stand by you when your success makes theirs more difficult.

Or just go into academics, where we all do mediocre together!
 
bustbones26 said:
Now daniel's experience was much different (or so I would hope) but I do agree with him, negotiate, negotiate, negotiate!!!
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Sounds like you thankfully dodged a missile there. Yeah, my experiences were usually different. I did have one offer similar to that one, though. I ran screaming in the other direction.
 
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[SIZE=3 said:
HarveyCushing;12895857]Daniel is not the only one with that experience[/SIZE].






http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=12564576#post12564576
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Danielmd is right.
I just accepted a position as a neurohospitalist working7on/7off, 6 weeks vacation and one call during my week on. Base salary is 315k. This is a private practice neurosurgery rungroup with 7 other neurologist. I will be doing 85% stroke without a stroke fellowship(my program is stroke heavy, I already completed 8 months of stroke).
Why would someone pay 300k base? According to my interviewwith the managing partners, they are currently losing money having an officebase neurologist manning the inpatient service. Currently, the 7 neurologistrotate once a week and provide inpatient services. According to this group, itsway cheaper to hire a neurohospitalist. The pain neurologist made 750k lastyear, why would he want to lose 7 weeks of earning potential working as theinpatient neurologist—this group is the top dog in the region, all their billablesare insane. All neuro earn over 450k.They only work 8-5. When I get there, they will continue to rotatethe week that I am off with future plans of hiring a second neurohospitalist.
The cool thing about this position is that I will earn 315kregardless of my RVU’s. If I make more, I’ll keep it, if I don’t, I still getpaid the 315. They have to keep a neurology service (presence ) in that hospital becausethat’s where the neurosurgeons operate, otherwise, if it was up to the neurologist,they would stricky do clinic only.
During my interview trail, and I interviewed in the Midwest andSoutheastern region, all of my offers were in the 300k range. In fact, I madeit a point to seek out 300k, 7on/7off schedule, mid-size cities, low crime etc.Thus, when I went there to interview, I already knew the parameters of theoffer.
However, that most important thing in my opinion is the fitbetween the group and you. During mylast interview, I went there interviewing for a 2014 position as I was going toaccept the stroke fellowship—but the fit was so good, that we decided to startin 2013.
Again, all offers that I got consisted ofat least 300k baseplus benefits, profit sharing etc and all of the extra goodies. there are positions like these out there, youjust have to be willing to wait and most important, know what you want in apractice. Please note, the point of thispost is not to spike the football rather it is to show that inpatientneurologist positions with these types of salaries exist.
Best of Luck
 
Anyone applied for jobs in Chicago, New York, or other metro areas in NorthEast/MidWest? What was the income range?

Danielmd, I'm pretty sure sleep fellow adds extra $$$ to your income.

Also, what's the difference between neurocritical care and neurohospitalist?
 
Davmith said:
Anyone applied for jobs in Chicago, New York, or other metro areas in NorthEast/MidWest? What was the income range?

Danielmd, I'm pretty sure sleep fellow adds extra $$$ to your income.

Also, what's the difference between neurocritical care and neurohospitalist?
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NCC- you run a neuro ICU. SAH, SDH, EDH, status, ICH, TBI, severe ischemic strokes...etc.
Neurohospitalists- you admit ER and private practice patients to hospital. Meningitis, encephalitis, strokes, syncope, seizures...etc.
 
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Davmith said:
Danielmd, I'm pretty sure sleep fellow adds extra $$$ to your income.
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Definitely.

But my comments are for general neurology people, too. Some of the jobs I looked at were exclusively for sleep medicine, others were for a combination of sleep and neuro and were applicable to people with a wide variety (or even lack) of fellowship training.
 
Hey everyone, I know this is an older thread but Im just finishing up M2 and am very interested in neuro and have been really since undergrad. As someone earlier in the post stated to do a search, it is very hard because everyone seems to have a different opinion. However, I would like to hear from residents/attendings on this page who are currently in the field to see what there honest opinions are.

It is quite obvious the demand for most specialties and primary care will continue to increase significantly for the next 20 years at the minimum. The supply will have a hard time catching up to the demand in my opinion as the population grows and the current baby boomer generation of docs is retiring. However, I realize that since there is no crystal ball, it is hard to think about where salary will go and people usually don't like to discuss it anyways. In addition, to increase in demand, how else will this field be predicted to change? For someone like myself who is very business minded, is it still going to be safe to go into private group setting? neurohospitalist/NCC? Worth it to specialize in certain areas?.. As I am interested in working in the Midwest (specifically Illinois) it seems things are still pretty stable. Although most of these threads mention the cuts in reimbursements, many private practice groups are still advertising numerous jobs starting in the $250-$300k range. I know I am new to the neuro thread and posting about a touchy subject but any advice or guidance would be very helpful. Thanks everyone.
 
In general, you will work harder for the same amount of money. That's all I can really say. MGMA salary data suggests that most neurologists make between 200-400K. How much you make depends on how much you work, especially in private practice. Even salaries in NIR from the very limited data I have seen is around 300K.

Anecdotally, I've heard the neurologists at the private community hospital where I'm doing my TY make upwards of 300K and seem to have a very nice lifestyle. Inpatient consults and 2 days of clinic (usually 8-5), plus weekend call every 3-4 weekends. Not sure what overnight call schedules are.
 
TUGM said:
In general, you will work harder for the same amount of money.
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Harder in comparison to what? The past? Other specialties? Something else? (Probably all of the above).

Thanks for the reply!!!
 
I'm referring mostly to the past. Most neurologists will probably never work the same hours as a surgeon and probably never make as much money. And you'll probably work harder (more hours) than a dermatologist and probably never make as much money. But, you'll most likely be comfortable, make more money than the average American, and spend time in a specialty that allows you to think (more) instead of blindly following algorithms. As Einstein would say, "It's all relative, yo."
 
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TUGM said:
I'm referring mostly to the past. Most neurologists will probably never work the same hours as a surgeon and probably never make as much money. And you'll probably work harder (more hours) than a dermatologist and probably never make as much money. But, you'll most likely be comfortable, make more money than the average American, and spend time in a specialty that allows you to think (more) instead of blindly following algorithms. As Einstein would say, "It's all relative, yo."
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Call me optimist, but I think in the near future neurology will become very lucrative. Unlike most other fields in medicine, the field hasn't reached its full potential yet. I can totally see the field exploding when breakthroughs happen. Now, that tons of money is being channelled into neuroscience research studies, big innovations maybe around the corner.

Neurology is one of the 3 specialties that I can see myself pursuing, so it may be wishful thinking on my part :).
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
Call me optimist, but I think in the near future neurology will become very lucrative. Unlike most other fields in medicine, the field hasn't reached its full potential yet. I can totally see the field exploding when breakthroughs happen. Now, that tons of money is being channelled into neuroscience research studies, big innovations maybe around the corner.

Neurology is one of the 3 specialties that I can see myself pursuing, so it may be wishful thinking on my part :).
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Obviously, all us neurologists and neurologists-in-training would be more than happy if this happens. In the most direct future, our salaries are at best mediocre when compared to other physicians. If you want the $$$$ be a spine surgeon - you can spend your time doing borderline unethical back whacks in the name of absolving obese patients of their chronic back pain.
 
I'm not saying these things to make neurology sound less appealing - it's just what the MGMA data and salary survey shows. There are obviously neurologists making a butt-load of money. Go into the field if you like the subject matter. We can also take some pride and stroke our egos because we are physicians specializing in subject matter that scares the pants off of other doctors. At the end of the day, nobody gets that brain like a neurologist.
 
TUGM said:
Obviously, all us neurologists and neurologists-in-training would be more than happy if this happens. In the most direct future, our salaries are at best mediocre when compared to other physicians. If you want the $$$$ be a spine surgeon - you can spend your time doing borderline unethical back whacks in the name of absolving obese patients of their chronic back pain.
Click to expand...

If by mediocre you mean 200-250k in today's dollar value (not in 2022 years when I'm hunting for jobs), then that's more than enough to payoff my projected, jaw-dropping debt while providing me with an above average lifestyle. With that I will be very content, given that I'll be practicing in a field that I enjoy.

How's the job market for neurology? Is it something similar to that of psychiatry :)or is it like pathology:(?
 
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Ibn Alnafis MD said:
How's the job market for neurology? Is it something similar to that of psychiatry :)or is it like pathology:(?
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No direct experience, but from what I understand, it's one of the most in demand specialties. And that demand is only projected to increase. The supply/demand ratio is definitely in our favor.
 
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