Cardiology Compensation/Lifestyle

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medlyfe19

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Hello! I was wondering if someone could shed some light into how the lifestyle of a non invasive cardiologist is. I plan to have children and obviously I know with medicine a lot of time will be taken up with career, but I dont want to be able to have some family time as well.

Also I have been hearing mixed takes on compensation as a cardiologist, some say that salaries will be largely decreased, some say it wont change, while others say it will increase. So I just wanted to see if anyone knows what the job outlook/compensation looks like for the future. Thank you!

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Lifestyle, especially as a non-invasive, is highly variable from practice to practice. While cardiology would never be mistaken for a lifestyle speciality, I have definitely heard of "part time" gigs working 3 days a week making 250k in a major metro suburb.

Hello! I was wondering if someone could shed some light into how the lifestyle of a non invasive cardiologist is. I plan to have children and obviously I know with medicine a lot of time will be taken up with career, but I dont want to be able to have some family time as well.

Also I have been hearing mixed takes on compensation as a cardiologist, some say that salaries will be largely decreased, some say it wont change, while others say it will increase. So I just wanted to see if anyone knows what the job outlook/compensation looks like for the future. Thank you!
 
Hello! I was wondering if someone could shed some light into how the lifestyle of a non invasive cardiologist is. I plan to have children and obviously I know with medicine a lot of time will be taken up with career, but I dont want to be able to have some family time as well.

Also I have been hearing mixed takes on compensation as a cardiologist, some say that salaries will be largely decreased, some say it wont change, while others say it will increase. So I just wanted to see if anyone knows what the job outlook/compensation looks like for the future. Thank you!

Lifestyle is variable as the above poster mentioned. No one knows where the income is going to go but I think the income will go down significantly over the next few years. There is increasing scrutiny of the costs related to cardiovascular imaging and procedures(and medical costs in general), and I suspect that cost containment measures will bring salaries down.

That being said, the money will probably be plenty for most people for many years to come, but I think the uncertainty is one of the reasons that choosing what you find to be interesting is so important. The money may even out in the end, and cardiology will probably always have a worse lifestyle than many fields.

Best of luck!
 
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For lifestyle, I'm assuming you're mainly referring to call, and particularly nights/weekends. The amount you do depends on how many people you can split it with and/or how many hospitals/patients you cover. The latter condition also affects how busy your call days are, the more hospitals/patients you cover the busier you'll likely be, but this can also be affected by hospital setup, in-hospital coverage (fellows, hospitalists, etc.). Additionally, the nature of cardiology, where you typically provide continuous high-risk care, makes things slightly more difficult. Being "off the clock" is a grey area and time off can be more difficult.

As for compensation, no one knows. There were cuts a few years ago and changes in reimbursement that has altered the field, cardiologist complained (understandably so) and maybe they aren't making as much as before, but they still make good money. If there are drastic cuts, it'll likely affect all specialties. This is why you go into cardiology, or any field, because you enjoy it. I'd do cardiology even if it paid as much as hospitalist. I believe doctors will continue to be in the upper end of salaries as a whole, however I think you'll be much happier if you learn to keep expectations low and live below your means.
 
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Lifestyle is variable as discussed.

Most of recent grads doing gen cards post fellowship here (reasonable desirable location) all have starting salaries 350K+ with potential for higher. Compensation is fine - you work harder for it than maybe other specialties, but I love the field and enjoy it day in and day out.
 
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Can confirm that cardiologists have gotten shafted SIGNIFICANTLY in the last 20-30 years.

One highly reputable old school private practive doc in my area I've shadowed have told me they used to make $3,000+ for left heart catheterization.

A new doc (well... he's been practicing for 4 years now) that I have talked to and has signed with private practice are making anywhere from 900-$1000 for the same procedure.

Talk about being SHAFTED.

If that isn't a sign of where things are heading... idk what to tell you.

Do the math on that!
 
Can confirm that cardiologists have gotten shafted SIGNIFICANTLY in the last 20-30 years.

One highly reputable old school private practive doc in my area I've shadowed have told me they used to make $3,000+ for left heart catheterization.

A new doc (well... he's been practicing for 4 years now) that I have talked to and has signed with private practice are making anywhere from 900-$1000 for the same procedure.

Talk about being SHAFTED.

If that isn't a sign of where things are heading... idk what to tell you.

Do the math on that!

Can confirm? From a shadowing a cardiologist a few times? You do know that there’s more to being a cardiologist than cathing people right?

Might as well just quit Med school at this point since the dolla bills are not flowing in.
 
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Can confirm? From a shadowing a cardiologist a few times? You do know that there’s more to being a cardiologist than cathing people right?

Might as well just quit Med school at this point since the dolla bills are not flowing in.

All I am saying is I got to talk to them in their respective billing offices and they showed me the CPT codes and billing history that their office managers have been inputting for years.

The old school dude had legit green folders that were clumped up with dusty papers and billing records that he kept in an on-site storage room just incase the good ol' IRS wanted to pay a visit.

I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers. It was just a confirmation of many peoples' beliefs on here that this is what I have seen personally seen man. No need to get butthurt about it.

I'm planning on doing IM anyway and hopefully do cards too but all I'm saying is I can probably expect a huge paycut compared to what y'all are gonna be getting in a few years too lol
 
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What if I told you private practice internists who have an assembly line practice, who use as many CPT "procedure" codes as possible (the screening for alcohol, drugs, smoking codes, depression screening etc... or doing phlebotomy... or confirming LDL < 100 A1c <7 negative microalbuminuria... on giving vaccinations) can make quite a bit of bank and far more than all of their hospital employed internists and also most academic subspecialists (short of the Cath Assembly lines, the endoscopy assembly lines, and the infusion center or HD center owners)?

Does that change your perspective much?
 
One can look up medicare reimbursement online and a LHC is about $1k, the doctor's portion is maybe $300, depending on the facility setup, business model, etc. Yes, cards used to do better, though maybe we can blame some old school docs for reduced reimbursement and heavy insurance oversight due to carelessly or greedily cathing and stenting patients over the years. However, cards as a whole still is one of the top earning specialties and potentially top 1% earners in the US as a whole.
 
What if I told you private practice internists who have an assembly line practice, who use as many CPT "procedure" codes as possible (the screening for alcohol, drugs, smoking codes, depression screening etc... or doing phlebotomy... or confirming LDL < 100 A1c <7 negative microalbuminuria... on giving vaccinations) can make quite a bit of bank and far more than all of their hospital employed internists and also most academic subspecialists (short of the Cath Assembly lines, the endoscopy assembly lines, and the infusion center or HD center owners)?

Does that change your perspective much?
Not to mention Medicare allowed "transitions of care" or "annual wellness visit," both of which pay much better than a hospital consult followup.
 
As a non cardiologist I Always wondered , can a non-interventional trained/ boarded cardiologist do diagnostic LHCs?
 
As a non cardiologist I Always wondered , can a non-interventional trained/ boarded cardiologist do diagnostic LHCs?

Yes, an long as you have level 2 COCATs competency (~ 300 caths, 6 months minimum dedicated cath lab training) you can do diagnostic right and left heart catheterization. However even if by some miracle you get the requisite number of PCI in residency (usually if you’re at a high volume center with no interventional fellowship) you still need to do a cath fellowship in order to do PCI. There’s plenty of times diagnostic cath is helpful though - preop valve surgery for example.
 
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