addiction medicine

[lady bug]

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What is it about addiction medicine that pays so much? I know of two addiction psychiatrists personally (one in the south and the other in the midwest) that net over half a million a year. Seems a lot higher than what I thought the average psychiatrist made.

 

[prominence]

What is it about addiction medicine that pays so much? I know of two addiction psychiatrists personally (one in the south and the other in the midwest) that net over half a million a year. Seems a lot higher than what I thought the average psychiatrist made.

unfortunately, people on this forum do not like discussing specialties and salaries, which is a shame.

some clown will probably come on and tell u that u will be miserable if u pick a subspecialty with money as ur top priority, and that u need to have a selfless passion for addiction psych to pursue it. what a load of garbage.

if u feel ur skills as a psychiatrist can be best utilized treating this neglected patient population, then we need more people like u. and u deserve to be compensated handsomely if you produce decent results with ur treatment.

 

[Anasazi23]

Most of the exposure I've had to addiction psychs have worked in inpatient hospital settings. I know OldPsychDoc tends to work with a lot of addiction patients. Maybe he can provide more insight.

I know that the addiction floors I've been on have salaried psychiatrists, who presumably make the going rate for psychiatrists at their experience level.

Personally, there isn't enough money on this earth for me to specialize in addiction psych, but I know residents that have mentor addiction psych colleagues that apparently make tons of money with private addiction clinics, and even running methadone clinics (which are apparently also quite lucrative).

 

[OldPsychDoc]

Most of the exposure I've had to addiction psychs have worked in inpatient hospital settings. I know OldPsychDoc tends to work with a lot of addiction patients. Maybe he can provide more insight.

I know that the addiction floors I've been on have salaried psychiatrists, who presumably make the going rate for psychiatrists at their experience level.

Personally, there isn't enough money on this earth for me to specialize in addiction psych, but I know residents that have mentor addiction psych colleagues that apparently make tons of money with private addiction clinics, and even running methadone clinics (which are apparently also quite lucrative).

The addiction psychiatrists that are making the kind of money that lady bug is talking about are probably the entreprenureal sort who run private clinics employing several other people (counselors, nurses, etc. ) to actually see the patients for them, or as Sazi said, they run methadone mills and sign 10 methadone scripts an hour every day...

It is interesting that there is this idea that there is so much money being made in this sector--when I'm lucky to get an insurer to agree to pay for 28 days of treatment vs 21 or even 10...

 

[Anasazi23]

Sort of mind boggling...scroll down to see all the numbers. 😱
http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm