Potential Earnings of Neurologist

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As said before, it's in our favor. You'll probably be able to find a job in any location you want. Big cities will naturally be a bit more saturated, but it shouldn't be too big of an issue.
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Like I said, the average STARTING salary seen posted on Merritt Hawkins (I am assuming this is the best representation of current physician salary ranges) is around $300k and some of the private practice gigs seem to be going for more. Im sure partnership and # of years in practice also increases this. Any clarification from residents/attendings would be great. I remember hearing about the cuts to emg that didnt go through so it seems things are steady. I have also been reading several articles on how neuro demand is one of the highest in medicine and will only continue to increase for the next few decades due to the increase in population of people >65 y.o. and an increasing prevalence of vascular disorders and neurocognitive disorders. I know I am a naive med student but I have a hard time seeing how this is bad news!
 
300K average? I'm not sure I buy it. I know it's on MH, but that sounds a bit skewed to me.
 
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I've seen it before. I'm not convinced that those values are truly representative though. 300K starting salary probably means something fishy is going on as well. My "hold up!" alarm would go off seeing that. That said, I hope I'm wrong ;)
 
I don’t know why is it taboo to talk about salary on these forums. I am a neurohospitalist who graduated in 2013, working 7/7. I initially took a job with a private practice group- it was my dream job and it paid starting $300K. Six months in i had to leave this job due to family reasons and landed an academic neurohospitalist job, with an academic appointment, working 7/7 with a salary of $315k and potential for RVUs. I have 2 NPs, 2 residents, and med students as part of my team. I really love what i do. Research is there if I want to.
That bottom line is that when i was looking for a job, I told my recruiter or hospitals recruiters what I was looking for—i had a list i.e salary, community size etc. I didn’t compromise with anything.

Merritt Hawkins hooked me up with my first job and it was not advertised.
 
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neurochica said:
I don’t know why is it taboo to talk about salary on these forums. I am a neurohospitalist who graduated in 2013, working 7/7. I initially took a job with a private practice group- it was my dream job and it paid starting $300K. Six months in i had to leave this job due to family reasons and landed an academic neurohospitalist job, with an academic appointment, working 7/7 with a salary of $315k and potential for RVUs. I have 2 NPs, 2 residents, and med students as part of my team. I really love what i do. Research is there if I want to.
That bottom line is that when i was looking for a job, I told my recruiter or hospitals recruiters what I was looking for—i had a list i.e salary, community size etc. I didn’t compromise with anything.

Merritt Hawkins hooked me up with my first job and it was not advertised.
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Thank you for sharing.

What is your schedule like during your 7-on week? Nights? Calls?
Did you do a fellowship in stroke or NCC to qualify for this neuro hospitalist gig?
As a neuro hospitalist, do you see patient in clinic? Do you manage a neuro ICU? Could you briefly describe a day in life of a neuro hospitalist?

Thank you,
 
schedule: it depends on the neurohospitalist model: when i was in private practice I was on call once a week during my week on. Now, I am on call twice a week during my week on. I am completely off with no responsibilities during my week off. I like this as I have a young family and we enjoy traveling.

I was accepted for a stroke fellowship but I decided against it. My residency was inpatient heavy, did somewhere between 6-8 months of stroke in addition to my impatient months, so I felt very comfortable coming out of residency. My salary wouldn’t have change should i have completed the fellowship.

I don’t do any clinic, in fact I hate clinic. This is what neurohiospitalsit is all about. in regards to NCC management, last yr in private practice I was the big fish in the pond--I did everything which i liked, including managing NCC patients. Now in my academic setting, in addition to consults, I only admit seizures and strokes, but I do not admit bleeds. They go to the NCC team. I do miss stroke bleeds but I guess its easier on my schedule now that I don’t get to see them.

My day is different every day, but in short, My NPs and Residents round in the morning while i am reviewing my patients (charts). Once they are ready for me, I round with them. We get consults and admit when necessary. Regular inpatient neurology i guess.

Let me know if I can be of further help.
 
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Those postings on the Merritt website are for jobs in the middle of nowhere. If you want to live anywhere near an actual city the salary will be 2/3-1/2 of what is posted there.
 
Acherona said:
Those postings on the Merritt website are for jobs in the middle of nowhere. If you want to live anywhere near an actual city the salary will be 2/3-1/2 of what is posted there.
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Can you see cities? My link only allowed me to view states. Still, plenty of representation.

I've tried to be helpful in earlier posts here. That being said, readers should be aware that neurology does not compare favorably from a financial standpoint to an awful lot of medical specialties and subspecialties. If you are interested in the subject matter, then the salaries serve as useful guideposts, but beyond that, you can make far more money doing other things in medicine, dentistry, or possibly even nursing. You need to make the choice that's right for you.

I'm happy and wouldn't change, but if money is a major factor for you (and there is nothing wrong with that), you might want to look more closely at some other areas of medicine than neurology.
 
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What kind of nursing job would pay better than neurology?
 
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I thought their avg salary was like 150k. I've talked to a few neurologists that make near $400k a year.
 
gopens67 said:
I thought their avg salary was like 150k. I've talked to a few neurologists that make near $400k a year.
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That would be a rarer salary for a neurologist. Even accounting for the breadth of space left in your wording. Also, read how I typed my sentence. My point stands. You can make more money than the average neurologist via multiple career paths, including nursing.
 
danielmd06 said:
Can you see cities? My link only allowed me to view states. Still, plenty of representation.
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If you read the descriptions you can basically tell that they are not in a metro area even if they don't say it. For example "1.5 hours from Dallas" or "own a house with rolling scenic views". In my experience if a place is actually in a city or somewhere desirable they will advertise it prominently (Rare opportunity in the center of Manhattan!!!!) otherwise they will keep it vague (300K first year, no call in New York!! = upstate). If it doesn't mention the location at all, you know for sure it is rural. I discovered this after responding to a few such ads.
 
Acherona said:
If you read the descriptions you can basically tell that they are not in a metro area even if they don't say it. For example "1.5 hours from Dallas" or "own a house with rolling scenic views". In my experience if a place is actually in a city or somewhere desirable they will advertise it prominently (Rare opportunity in the center of Manhattan!!!!) otherwise they will keep it vague (300K first year, no call in New York!! = upstate). If it doesn't mention the location at all, you know for sure it is rural. I discovered this after responding to a few such ads.
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I pulled up two (Louisiana and Florida). The one from Louisiana was actually located in New Orleans, and the one for Florida was an academic position (likely Gainesville I should guess). I would count those both as desirable. I guess different strokes for different folks.
 
I was recently offered a Neurology job for around 50K/year before taxes. Schedule is you work pretty much all the time. Oh wait, that's residency...
 
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@TUGM, I think neuro wouldn't exist if you were to max out at minimum wage (based on hours) at mid career! Haha
 
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Haha I want just being flippant. I think if you're willing to be aggressive (not a stereotypical descriptor of neurologists) in negotiations and have a decent CV and references to back you up, you can score a pretty sweet job in a pretty sweet place.
 
neurochica said:
schedule: it depends on the neurohospitalist model: when i was in private practice I was on call once a week during my week on. Now, I am on call twice a week during my week on. I am completely off with no responsibilities during my week off. I like this as I have a young family and we enjoy traveling.

I was accepted for a stroke fellowship but I decided against it. My residency was inpatient heavy, did somewhere between 6-8 months of stroke in addition to my impatient months, so I felt very comfortable coming out of residency. My salary wouldn’t have change should i have completed the fellowship.

I don’t do any clinic, in fact I hate clinic. This is what neurohiospitalsit is all about. in regards to NCC management, last yr in private practice I was the big fish in the pond--I did everything which i liked, including managing NCC patients. Now in my academic setting, in addition to consults, I only admit seizures and strokes, but I do not admit bleeds. They go to the NCC team. I do miss stroke bleeds but I guess its easier on my schedule now that I don’t get to see them.

My day is different every day, but in short, My NPs and Residents round in the morning while i am reviewing my patients (charts). Once they are ready for me, I round with them. We get consults and admit when necessary. Regular inpatient neurology i guess.

Let me know if I can be of further help.
Click to expand...

This is exactly the type of job I'll be looking for (currently pgy-2). I can't stand clinic
 
danielmd06 said:
That would be a rarer salary for a neurologist. Even accounting for the breadth of space left in your wording. Also, read how I typed my sentence. My point stands. You can make more money than the average neurologist via multiple career paths, including nursing.
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You are not serious -- are you? I guess I should ask my wife who is an ICU nurse when she is going to bring that $5,000 paycheck ever 2 weeks....
 
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W19 said:
You are not serious -- are you? I guess I should ask my wife who is an ICU nurse when she is going to bring that $5,000 paycheck ever 2 weeks....
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CRNAs, NPs in some practices, especially the states that grant them autonomy. It's possible, especially when compared to academics.
 
Dharma said:
CRNAs, NPs in some practices, especially the states that grant them autonomy. It's possible, especially when compared to academics.
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CRNAs make an average 150k... NPs 90k. AAMC career in medicine put neurologists at 240k... You can have outliers in all these salaries, but these are the norms...
 
W19 said:
CRNAs make an average 150k... NPs 90k. AAMC career in medicine put neurologists at 240k... You can have outliers in all these salaries, but these are the norms...
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I don't think anyone disagrees with you there.
 
W19 said:
CRNAs make an average 150k... NPs 90k. AAMC career in medicine put neurologists at 240k... You can have outliers in all these salaries, but these are the norms...
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You can make more money than the average neurologist in mutiple medical specialties and dentistry.

You can make more money than some neurologists as a CRNA. Remember that to get an average of 240k, there are plenty of people making less than that mark, and also some to counterbalance those making well above 240k. And CRNA's can make more than 150k. You didn't really need me to explain that did you? :) And I do not mean that offensively.
 
danielmd06 said:
You can make more money than the average neurologist in mutiple medical specialties and dentistry.

You can make more money than some neurologists as a CRNA. Remember that to get an average of 240k, there are plenty of people making less than that mark, and also some to counterbalance those making well above 240k. And CRNA's can make more than 150k. You didn't really need me to explain that did you? :) And I do not mean that offensively.
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When people are talking about salary, they usually talk about average... I don't understand why you keep saying CRNAs can make more than neurologists. Of course they can, but it is not the norm... A plumber CAN make more than a neurologist... Is that your argument?
 
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W19 said:
When people are talking about salary, they usually talk about average... I don't understand why you keep saying CRNAs can make more than neurologists. Of course they can, but it is not the norm... A plumbers CAN make more than a neurologist... Is that your argument?
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Agree that when people speak of salary, they often refer to averages and speak in broad generalities. The fact that a CRNA can make more than a neurologist is precisely my point. Nor do I think it is so rare as you seem to think with your comparison to a plumber.

I think it is fairly straightforward what I was trying to say. Nursing comment or no.
 
danielmd06 said:
Agree that when people speak of salary, they often refer to averages and speak in broad generalities. The fact that a CRNA can make more than a neurologist is precisely my point. Nor do I think it is so rare as you seem to think with your comparison to a plumber.

I think it is fairly straightforward what I was trying to say. Nursing comment or no.
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You are trying to defend something that is indefensible... A CRNA can make more than ID/IM/FM/EM/Neuro docs etc... Is anyone going to say I'm going to CRNA school so I can make more money than these docs...NO! If you are talking about return on investment, I totally agree with you... Saying a CRNA CAN make more than a neurologist goes without saying...
 
danielmd06 said:
A CRNA can make more money than a private practice, board certified neurologist at a literal fraction of the training time, effort, and malpractice risk.
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An Engineer can make more money than a private practice, board certified neurologist at a literal fraction of the training time, effort, and malpractice risk. You see what I did there!
 
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W19 said:
CRNAs make an average 150k... NPs 90k. AAMC career in medicine put neurologists at 240k... You can have outliers in all these salaries, but these are the norms...
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The average CRNA works 35 hours per week.
Most CRNA gigs compensate >100/hr. Do the math on 50 hours per week.

According to Glassdoor.com, peds ICU RNs make 70+/hour at Santa Clara Valley Hospital.
 
Silent Cool said:
The average CRNA works 35 hours per week.
Most CRNA gigs compensate >100/hr. Do the math on 50 hours per week.

According to Glassdoor.com, peds ICU RNs make 70+/hour at Santa Clara Valley Hospital.
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My wife has been working in ICU for 5+ years now, so I can tell you with certainty that your number might be true for that hospital or a specific region of the country, but it's far from the norm.
 
W19 said:
My wife has been working in ICU for 5+ years now, so I can tell you with certainty that your number might be true for that hospital or a specific region of the country, but it's far from the norm.
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I wouldn't doubt it. CA RNs make quite a bit more than avg. But the CRNA figures are spot on. Tell your wife to start fillin' out those apps!!! :soexcited:
 
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W19 said:
Should we all go to nursing school and move to CA?
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Well, I think the relatively high ROI of it and the changing health care economics should give one great pause when many med schools will put one in 500K of debt and the most likely outcome is FM making significantly less than a CRNA, or a Ped making less than an ICU RN--especially when considering how much yearly will be taken from one's income to pay back 500K at 7.4% interest.
 
Silent Cool said:
Well, I think the relatively high ROI of it and the changing health care economics should give one great pause when many med schools will put one in 500K of debt and the most likely outcome is FM making significantly less than a CRNA, or a Ped making less than an ICU RN--especially when considering how much yearly will be taken from one's income to pay back 500K at 7.4% interest.
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Oh boy!
 
Loved my neuro rotation. Went in digging the subject content, and found myself I really liking the inpatient thing. But when I bring up neuro as a my #1 choice, many (non-neuro folks) respond with "well, isn't there an issue with the job market?" I really don't have a response except for "I don't think so…" Then I'm thinking "hmm… really?"
 
There were no issues with the job market when I was looking a couple of years ago. Everyone wants a neurologist and most are willing to pay fairly decent salaries. I have seen job openings stay open for years, and there are often postings for hospitals/practices wanting to hire multiple additional neurologists. I think you will have no problem finding a great job in a desired geographic area, but may have more difficulties finding the perfect job in a particular city, so being somewhat flexible helps.
 
AlternateSome1 said:
There were no issues with the job market when I was looking a couple of years ago. Everyone wants a neurologist and most are willing to pay fairly decent salaries. I have seen job openings stay open for years, and there are often postings for hospitals/practices wanting to hire multiple additional neurologists. I think you will have no problem finding a great job in a desired geographic area, but may have more difficulties finding the perfect job in a particular city, so being somewhat flexible helps.
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Sounds good. Flexibility will be a necessary for all of us… regardless of chosen speciality. Thanks for the reply! (Balling avatar there!!!!)
 
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