Average career-path for pathologist????

[ilovepubmed]

For the average resident graduating from a combined path residency, what's their career going to be? In other words, what are the steps... Does everyone ultimately end up starting their own business? Do most people start off in a partnership for a few years and then move on to start their own practice? Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[yaah]

Sorry, there really is no "average." Defining something as the average career course would be pointless because there are so many different options. The majority of residents go into private practice though, but even that job description varies a ton.

 

[ilovepubmed]

what percent start their own business as opposed to joining a pre-standing practice?

 

[djmd]

what percent start their own business as opposed to joining a pre-standing practice?

0%?
How would you start your own business straight out residency?

You second question was how many people join an existing group and then form their own group....?
Low. I couldn't give you a number but <25% of the people in private groups go on to form their own group.... You may eventually become a full partner in an existing group, but the % of people who forge a new group (rather than just corporate restructuring or buying out existing groups) is low.

 

[ilovepubmed]

if you buy into an existing practice what happens to your salary? what's the jump? when you see salary figures of 150-250, are they talking about partners? thanks for the help!

 

[djmd]

if you buy into an existing practice what happens to your salary? what's the jump? when you see salary figures of 150-250, are they talking about partners? thanks for the help!

This is way to complicated to cover but:
You buy in, you make more (and you loose the salary, your income is a % of the profit, so no specific guarantees). Salary in the 125-225 range is pre-partner level. But can vary wildly depending on large number of factors.

There is no way to talk about partner level income, more than the non partners, but how much more varies too much.

 

[LADoc00]

Im not aware of anyone that has started a medical corp doing pathology professional services (consulting is a different story, lots have done that) that had less than 10+ years of experience other than myself. The challenges in terms of the business and law aspects are very daunting and that isnt even mentioning the political sphere.

Frankly, we are in a different era. There really is no new hospitals being constructed where trainees could create a base of operations. That said, there are a ton of at risk contracts where the admin is disatisfied with the group and would like change. The key is identifying these at risk locations and marketing yourself.

Most as in 99%+ of pathologists go down this path:
either they are employees for life in Kaiser, Academia or Government type operation
OR they join a practice and become partner

there are maybe a handful of people in the whole state of California that filed for an S-corp, got a fict. name from the state medical board and actually created a business. Most if not all are >60 years old. For me, this was the ONLY way to go, otherwise I would have felt I had sold myself short. If you want to do this dont give up. It is a long journey but being your own CEO is the most rewarding thing Ive ever done.

 

[ilovepubmed]

There is no way to talk about partner level income, more than the non partners, but how much more varies too much.

hmm... any chance you could give me a ballpark estimate? i don't mind having a large range. thanks!

 

[CameronFrye]

That said, there are a ton of at risk contracts where the admin is disatisfied with the group and would like change. The key is identifying these at risk locations and marketing yourself.

I've never seen you address this (and you don't have to if you don't want to), but is this what you did? If so, you must be quite the salesman to convince a hospital to drop their current group just to bring in a really young guy with a brand new outfit. Do you own your own histo lab, or do you contract out that work? Did you buy out an old place? These things seem like they would take a huge amount of capital. Do you have financial backers or did you borrow the money? If I had gone into clinical medicine, I always assumed I would own my own practice. Once I decided on path, I just figured that door had closed, so your story is very interesting to me. I realize that you would probably blow your cover if you gave away too many details, but I would love to hear whatever tidbits you can share about your current setup and the steps you had to go through to achieve it.