7 Figure Pod salary?

[TimmyTurner]

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this could be posted under the stickied thread at the top, but it is somewhat of an offshoot.

Pre pod student here. Finished undergrad in 2013, currently teaching high school physics, applying this coming cycle.

I've read on this forum and other websites various forms of the same statement regarding Pod salary; "it's like any other field, there are pods making less than $100k and others making 7 figures."

From my limited time shadowing Pods and perusing the forums, I'm having a hard time finding/envisioning pods making 7 figures. I don't see the 'big ticket' procedures pods can perform at a high enough frequency to command this figure. Unless one owns multiple practices, or clips a metric ton of toenails in a fiscal year, I don't see how anyone can reach thOse figures.

This is not to slight the overall earning capacity of a hardworking Pod, but I think the high end figures or grossly, irresponsibly over-stated. Unless I'm wrong. Which I could ( and hope) I am.

Posted from my iPad Air at Denver airport ( free wifi!!)

 

[Mad Jack]

Basically anyone making 7 figures in medicine nowadays is making it by having other people work for them, either by owning multiple practices or by skimming off of a group. You don't clock 7 figures on your own, whether you're doing orthopedic surgery, anesthesiology, radiology, dentistry, or podiatry.

 

[NatCh]

A podiatrist making 7 figures per year would very much be an outlier on the far end of the spectrum. He or she would not be billing/collecting that much but would rather be making it as passive income (employer of other clinicians who generate income for you, investments in real estate, owner/shareholder in a surgery center, HBOT chamber, MRI, etc.).

 

[newres64]

I know of a pod who makes very close to that amount but he owns multiple offices. I don't think its possible for a pod to be making 7 figures strictly on practicing podiatry and IMHO it really shouldn't be. There are probably people who disagree with me on this but to have any doctor making 7 figures purely on "practicing medicine" is an example of gluttony. Healthcare dollars are not infinite and in our current situation with families struggling just to afford health insurance there is no justification to an income that high.

This was actually played out in the 80's-90's, during the "golden years" of medicine. A minority of doctors did bring in 7 figures from simply doing surgery, treatments, etc. They drove exotic sports cars and owned multiple homes. As healthcare spending grew cost containment became a big issue. Eventually the government/insurance companies wised up and started slashing reimbursements and kept slashing till the pendulum swung in the complete opposite direction. You can argue that this was going to happen even if there were no"7 figure doctors" but if anything, it made it harder for doctors to get support against these cuts.

 

[TimmyTurner]

I don't think its possible for a pod to be making 7 figures strictly on practicing podiatry and IMHO it really shouldn't be. There are probably people who disagree with me on this but to have any doctor making 7 figures purely on "practicing medicine" is an example of gluttony. Healthcare dollars are not infinite and in our current situation with families struggling just to afford health insurance there is no justification to an income that high.

Very well said and 100% agree. My original post for this thread was because I felt that the 7 figure number was highly misleading/irresponsible, yet it is thrown around somewhat regularly on the topic of Pod salary. The only clinicians that should command 7 figures are those that perform entirely elective procedures (plastics, derm)

 

[Gigantron]

There are probably people who disagree with me on this but to have any doctor making 7 figures purely on "practicing medicine" is an example of gluttony.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/med-students-grow-a-spine.927917/#post-12729561

 

[ldsrmdude]

I know of a pod who makes very close to that amount but he owns multiple offices. I don't think its possible for a pod to be making 7 figures strictly on practicing podiatry and IMHO it really shouldn't be. There are probably people who disagree with me on this but to have any doctor making 7 figures purely on "practicing medicine" is an example of gluttony. Healthcare dollars are not infinite and in our current situation with families struggling just to afford health insurance there is no justification to an income that high.

This was actually played out in the 80's-90's, during the "golden years" of medicine. A minority of doctors did bring in 7 figures from simply doing surgery, treatments, etc. They drove exotic sports cars and owned multiple homes. As healthcare spending grew cost containment became a big issue. Eventually the government/insurance companies wised up and started slashing reimbursements and kept slashing till the pendulum swung in the complete opposite direction. You can argue that this was going to happen even if there were no"7 figure doctors" but if anything, it made it harder for doctors to get support against these cuts.

While I don't necessarily agree with all that you said, I agree it would be almost impossible for a podiatrist to make that kind of money solely by "practicing medicine." I know of a few docs who bill (or maybe even collect) that much annually, but that is before you factor in overhead or anything else. In order to actually "make" over a million, you would need to be billing much more than that, probably close to 2 million. I find it hard to imagine a way to do that ethically. Unethically, yeah, you could make that:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...3/sentencing-cancer-doctor-canceled/26276205/

 

[FootAndAnkle]

[...] There are probably people who disagree with me on this but to have any doctor making 7 figures purely on "practicing medicine" is an example of gluttony. Healthcare dollars are not infinite and in our current situation with families struggling just to afford health insurance there is no justification to an income that high. [...]

I used to think similarly. Then I saw a report on salaries for state employees and noticed the highest paid was a football coach, with the next highest paid public employee making about 3.5 million dollars less per year. This country's priorities are upside down. Actors are paid millions for spending their hours in fictional plots. CEOs of large corporations are busy earning their oversized salaries on the backs of the middle and lower classes. I'm fairly sure insurance company executives are not laying awake at night wondering how their inflated salaries are burdening consumers with higher premiums or on what costs to quality medical care their company's profitability relies. I would rather see high salaries go to those busy filling their days and nights alleviating pain and suffering and saving lives than to entertainers and middlemen.

 

[Sweatshirt]

I used to think similarly. Then I saw a report on salaries for state employees and noticed the highest paid was a football coach, with the next highest paid public employee making about 3.5 million dollars less per year. This country's priorities are upside down. Actors are paid millions for spending their hours in fictional plots. CEOs of large corporations are busy earning their oversized salaries on the backs of the middle and lower classes. I'm fairly sure insurance company executives are not laying awake at night wondering how their inflated salaries are burdening consumers with higher premiums or on what costs to quality medical care their company's profitability relies. I would rather see high salaries go to those busy filling their days and nights alleviating pain and suffering and saving lives than to entertainers and middlemen.

Do you live in Ohio?? Cause I'm pretty sure Urban Meyer is the highest paid employee in that state right next door to me