general surgery locums pay

[moneyman698]

How much can you make doing part time locums in general surgery? Outside of trauma/ACS, not sure how locums pay for general surgery would work. Do you get paid a flat fee for taking call at a hospital then get paid extra for doing cases? If there is a flat fee, what is usually the pay structure. Ive seen around 1000 for 12/hr shift but seems on the rather low end.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[LucidSplash]

How much can you make doing part time locums in general surgery? Outside of trauma/ACS, not sure how locums pay for general surgery would work. Do you get paid a flat fee for taking call at a hospital then get paid extra for doing cases? If there is a flat fee, what is usually the pay structure. Ive seen around 1000 for 12/hr shift but seems on the rather low end.

There are several models of surgery locums. Some places you get paid a flat fee 24-hour for taking pager call +\- rounding. Sometimes this includes 2-4 hours of onsite work and then an hourly add on if you have to come in. Some places will need you to cover clinic pay a higher flat fee and no hourly. There are several ways it can work. But most gen surg locums is going to include “ACS” because generally you’re there to cover what comes in through the ED, not doing elective cases. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be expected to do the kind of complex case that needs to be at a tertiary center, you have to be reasonable, unless you are doing a gig at a tertiary place. But you have to ask those kind of questions ahead of time. You might be expected to do lines and such in the middle of the night if the facility typically uses gen surg to do that, you might not. You have to ask a lot of questions to understand exactly what they will want you to do.

If you go through a locums company they will generally cover airfare, rental car, gas, hotel, malpractice with tail (though read the policy, they are not always the best). Not food. Will reimburse for licenses and DEAs and credentialing fees pertaining to the job. You can direct contract with a hospital and get paid more, but you have to have own malpractice and such.

I don’t do Gen surg anymore but I get emails all the time. Here’s an example of one of the better Gen surg without trauma/ICU gigs I’ve seen (but I know nothing about hospital and you never really know how good/bad it is until you go there).

You do need to be careful about who you work with as recruiters don’t get paid unless they fill the position and not all are honest about the way they do business. Do not give your CV to anyone indiscriminately and don’t agree to be presented for a job that you aren’t serious about taking. Once a company presents your CV to a hospital for a position, you are typically locked in for some period of time (1-2 years is typically) for that site so if you later wanted to take a locums gig there or a perm position, the locums company has a right to a few from the hospital. For perm positions, that can be a very large sum of money and the hospital may withdraw the offer rather than pay it.

 

[xpert787]

How much can you make doing part time locums in general surgery? Outside of trauma/ACS, not sure how locums pay for general surgery would work. Do you get paid a flat fee for taking call at a hospital then get paid extra for doing cases? If there is a flat fee, what is usually the pay structure. Ive seen around 1000 for 12/hr shift but seems on the rather low end.

I have had some jobs that are a base rate, plus hours worked. Others that were a flat rate. Depends on how busy the place is. 1000/12hr could be ok depending on how busy the place is. Some people like a slower locums experience for less money, others prefer to be busier and make more, just depends on what you want.

 

[marblebeans]

Great question and I wish general surgeons talked more about this. I am an attending now and doing per diem locums full time for 1-2 years. The pay is highly variable but the market rate is around $1200 a day to include 4 "gratis" hours and then $150 per hour after that. This is the number that companies like Weatherby will give you. Assumption here is home call, no clinic. You can be presented however at any number that you want. I asked a recruiter last week and she said $1200-1500 was the average, but now $1500 is more commonly a start and $1800 on the high end.

You can ask for anything though, including less hours. Personally I think that paying a surgeon $50/hour to provide 24/7 gen surg coverage is a steal for hospitals and is a reality largely because general surgeons have undersold their skills more than any other specialty period. We 100% should be demanding more as a specialty. Nearly all the subspecialties demand higher pays. It is sad that we compete against other so much.

The highest rate I negotiated was accomplished not through a company, but directly with a hospital and that was for $3600/day flat rate, home call. I did not get extra to come in but still this was excellent as I would often work <6-8 hours per day, and often less on the weekends. That's $25,200 per 7 days/ week. Full disclosure this did not last long as the hospital quickly got someone else cheaper. Urologist regularly make this much doing locums.

I think north of $3K/day is what we should be requesting as a specialty. Those making less than $1500 a day are in fact earning less than mid MGMA full time surgeons. And that is with way more call + all the inconveniences of traveling/being away from family, etc.

The highest I've seen an agency promise as a flat fee is $2K with no extra for callbacks.

One of the frustrations is that hospitals will often go with the cheapest option making surgeons compete with each other for less. They care a lot about malpractice record, but beyond that pay little attention it seems to qualifications or degree of training.

Hope this helps and definitely happy to keep this convo going.