Compensation During Fellowship?

[Ibn Rushd]

I've read many times that residents get ~45k per year and that this amount rises slightly each year. What I haven't read is a ballpark figure for the income of a fellow. Do fellows earn significantly more than residents? Say for example an internal medicine resident begins a cardiology fellowship. How much will this person's income change? I'm sure salary is dependent on myriad factors, but generally speaking, how much do fellows earn? Also, are fellowships just as difficult as residency in terms of hours and workload? Last question, is there a major difference in salary between different fellowships? Would a cardiology fellow earn more/less than an allergy fellow, etc? Insight is much appreciated! 🙂

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[Droopy Snoopy]

I've read many times that residents get ~45k per year and that this amount rises slightly each year. What I haven't read is a ballpark figure for the income of a fellow. Do fellows earn significantly more than residents? Say for example an internal medicine resident begins a cardiology fellowship. How much will this person's income change? I'm sure salary is dependent on myriad factors, but generally speaking, how much do fellows earn? Also, are fellowships just as difficult as residency in terms of hours and workload? Last question, is there a major difference in salary between different fellowships? Would a cardiology fellow earn more/less than an allergy fellow, etc? Insight is much appreciated! 🙂

My system at least has each PGY paid the same be it residency or fellowship, and each year one is compensated incrementally more. So a 5th year ortho resident is paid the same as a 2nd year cards fellow (although some program-specific perks might vary, such as meal plans or education stipends), but both take home ~6K/year more than any given intern.

 

[Pilot Doc]

The above is generally true - all PGY5's in a given institution get the same salary. The only exception is non-accredited fellowships. A non-accredited fellow is not subsidized by medicare and can hence bill as an attending. These people are generally paid somewhere between the resident and attending salary range - low 100's.

Examples of non-accredited fellowships would be laparoscopic surgery or neuroanesthesia. Likely anything you've ever heard of as a pre-med is NOT a non-accredited fellowshiop.

 

[Pilot Doc]

I've read many times that residents get ~45k per year and that this amount rises slightly each year.

Not totally true, there is a fairly wide range of total compensation when salary and benefits are compared to cost of living.

http://www.aamc.org/data/stipend/2008_stipendreport.pdf

http://medschool.ucsf.edu/gme/residents/pdf/ResidentCompensation.pdf

 

[dragonfly99]

Generally all residents and fellows at a particular year of training at a particular hospital get paid the same.
So a 5th year surgery resident would get paid the same as a 2nd year GI fellow or cardiology fellow (who is in his/her 5th year of total training, counting 3 years of IM done before the fellowship).

1st year fellow (PGY4) in GI and cardiology make about 50k at my institution, plus get health insurance that is almost free. Hours vary widely according to your specialty. I'm sure allergy/immuno works a lot less hours than me, and essentially no overnight call. I'm sure PGY5 surgery residents work more than me. Your pay has nothing to do with how many hours you work - for example a 2nd year psychiatry resident or nuclear med resident will get paid the same as a 2nd year neurosurgery resident but probably only works 60% of the hours.

 

[lowbudget]

I think it depends on if you are university vs community. Universities generally have a salary structure that treats a fellow like a PGY whatever as stated above.

Community programs depending on funding source seem to be more flexible & allow a step up in salary. This includes fellowships that are sponsored by private practice groups.

In any event, you should ask if you can moonlight (if you're a medicine-ish doc) or if you get paid to take call &/or keep your billings as a surgical-ish doc as a fellow.

 

[proman]

It's highly variable. I know an allergy fellow who stayed at the same hospital where she did her medicine residency; her salary is $7,000 less. The medicine dept contributed extra money to her stipend and the allergy division does not. Moonlighting is the only thing that makes up for it.

 

[Winged Scapula]

It's highly variable. I know an allergy fellow who stayed at the same hospital where she did her medicine residency; her salary is $7,000 less. The medicine dept contributed extra money to her stipend and the allergy division does not. Moonlighting is the only thing that makes up for it.

Is that an unaccredited or non ACGME fellowship? I thought if ACGME accredited they had to pay based on the PGY structure of the other residency programs.

 

[proman]

Is that an unaccredited or non ACGME fellowship? I thought if ACGME accredited they had to pay based on the PGY structure of the other residency programs.

The fellowship's accredited. I'm not sure how the pay worked out. I know our fellows make the same salary but the benefits (parking/meals/healthcare/bookfund) are much different.

 

[Ibn Rushd]

Thank you all for the input!