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If you work in the middle of nowhere a hospital will pay you
Case Volume
Started by BioPod
Critical access hospital. OR facility fee, clinic facility fee, imaging, labs etc. Downstream revenue. Large medicare population and very good paying private insurance via a few larger local businesses. I don't know how all this works, but I am going to stay on this train until it derails...Management is happy with me so I don't complain. Right now my total package before benefits comes to 255 (215 +20 +20) a year. 215 base (will never hit bonus), I got a 60k signing bonus for the 3 year contract (so 20k a year) and I get another 20k a year as student loan reimbursement for 5 years. I have seen some numbers, I am making them money, trust me.
I will ask for a raise and expect to get one for a variety of reasons, but most important is from a PR perspective - this is very rural community. The hospital system (non-profit) has trouble finding specialists who want to live here (no clue why, its amazing). Think how bad it looks to the community as well as other potential doctors if a specialist leaves because he/she wasn't busy enough (either on the hospital side or physician side). I can tell you that my hospital system used multiple levels of bureaucracy and tons of data to decide to open my position. Do I want to be busier and make more money? yes. Do I want to not lose my surgical skills I worked so hard during school/residency to obtain? yes. But if they are willing to pay me more money to be willing to settle for not being as busy, stopping doing certain procedures because I just don't do enough of them to be proficient, then that's fine with me. I don't define my worth as a doctor by my ability to do complex charcot reconstruction or TAR. I send people to specialists in certain procedures when I need to, my patients love me and I have a great life, so sounds like a good deal to me.
Its not always 25 patients a week, this week I think I have 35. Also have 7 surgical cases in the next 3 weeks as I had a bunch of people waiting until the end of summer. A few MPJ fusions, a midfoot fusion, a flatfoot recon and some hammertoes.
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Hospitals in the west/mountain west are just different. Again, I have no idea how, I just know the sound of the paycheck hitting my bank account.
Also, to give another example of hospital employment - I have a buddy who just took a job in a neighbor state. This is a large local system that is not critical access. He took a non-operative job. 275k a year, 20k a year retention bonus. Rvu threshold is 4700. 6 weeks plus of vacation. The surgical pods there see maybe 20-25 patients a day, he is not quite sure how it will work for him, but he knows he will be able to pay off his 300k in loans in 3 years and then can re-evaluate. He is being given surgical privileges with the understanding that he is not allowed to operate. He is already board certified.
Your buddy is following the money. Having surgical training and not having the ability to operate is rough, but many don’t care and want the cash. Some are motivated by more than money and would also like to use their skills and be happy. Whatever works for you.
Hey, tell them I'm willing if they need another podiatrist. Sounds like you need to split your load. We'll each see 10-15 patients a week, mmmkay?
Not an unreasonable request.
