The field of REI is changing somewhat. There is some significant corporate consolidation happening, which is also happening in medicine in general. Take a look at Integramed.com They manage/own about 32 IVF centers across the country. There is also the Sher institutes...haveababy.com. They have about 10 or 11 centers across the country and will probably be opening more. Then, there is Fempartners, who manage about 7 centers. It used to be that an IVF doc finished their fellowship and opened their own clinic. The cost of opening a clinic has become somewhat prohibitive, mainly due to the fact that staff overhead and equipment costs have gone up significantly, while the cost of an IVF cycle has remained the same over the last 10 years, about $9000-$10,000. If you factor in inflation, it has actually gone down. That has created narrower profit margins and the need for better business practices, which most doctors don't have...hence companies like Integramed stepping in. It has decreased autonomy, but helped to somewhat maintain income.
Most of the people Eva knows are starting out around $200k, sometimes $175 with a small production bonus. The money is not what it used to be, nor is the autonomy. It is rather disappointing. Nonetheless, it is a rewarding field. Most people who work for Integramed make around $350 or so. You can make more if you own your own practice/lab, but that is extra time at work as well.
Nonetheless, the original question for the post was about programs to prepare for REI and I've met most of the last 3 years of IVF fellows at Stanford and numerous other programs, and only one went to a community program. It's an academic fellowship, despite the fact that most people go into private practice. In addition, none of the practices Eva interviewed at even mentioned treating pediatric/adult endocrine disorders, other than PCOS patients as part of their fertility workup. You might do that at an academic center, probably not in private practice.
