Inflation

[Porfirio]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hurts so bad. When we getting pay raises?

 

[Fox800]

They went to travel nurses and pizza.

 

[GeneralVeers]

Admin and KKR bonuses used it all. Sorrryyy

 

[HemorrhagicShock]

It's an interesting thing to think about. Inflation (whether you believe it's transitory or not) is making this specialty even harder to swallow. We all know that physician income across the board hasn't kept up with inflation, which is the same across all blue-collar work. And make no mistake, medicine and being a physician is highly-paid blue-collar work. I don't have a solution or honestly anything meaningful to say beyond the newly minted and early career attending MUST "live like a resident" and invest shrewdly because this boat is sinking.

I am always surprised when I see articles and medscape charts and MGMA this and that which shows "EM physician income has steadily increased YOY." Anecdotally this is not my experience with hourly wages in my area (PNW), and in fact there's been a slight downward pressure across the board.

Add in a high COL area, a kid or two, continued delayed gratification (that may never come in the form that one had initially dreamed of when they chose to go to medical school) and you're just sitting on the deck of the Titanic.

Whatever the solution is, I can nearly guarantee you that it will not come from within the house of medicine. Physicians hate each other too much, and have lost sight of who the true enemy is.

 

[namethatsmell]

It's an interesting thing to think about. Inflation (whether you believe it's transitory or not) is making this specialty even harder to swallow. We all know that physician income across the board hasn't kept up with inflation, which is the same across all blue-collar work. And make no mistake, medicine and being a physician is highly-paid blue-collar work. I don't have a solution or honestly anything meaningful to say beyond the newly minted and early career attending MUST "live like a resident" and invest shrewdly because this boat is sinking.

I am always surprised when I see articles and medscape charts and MGMA this and that which shows "EM physician income has steadily increased YOY." Anecdotally this is not my experience with hourly wages in my area (PNW), and in fact there's been a slight downward pressure across the board.

Add in a high COL area, a kid or two, continued delayed gratification (that may never come in the form that one had initially dreamed of when they chose to go to medical school) and you're just sitting on the deck of the Titanic.

Whatever the solution is, I can nearly guarantee you that it will not come from within the house of medicine. Physicians hate each other too much, and have lost sight of who the true enemy is.

While the whole field is in trouble, there is no EM ship on a more direct collision course with a mountain of **** than a CMG worker-bee gig.
CMGs only meaningful income stream these days are physician pro fees which are being hacked to pieces thanks to politicians and greedy insurance companies. So their only way to meaningfully increase profits is to cut costs...and their highest value targets are their docs.

There seems to be a brief window opening up right now with a pop in demand for EPs. My email has been flooded again with job ads. But it's going to die down quickly as the 1000s of extra new residents graduate from all these new pop-up programs.

If you're working for a CMG the time is now, right now, to take action and make a move to a non-profit hospital-employed/Kaiser/IHS/VA/civi doc at a mil hospital...or the very rare well-protected unicorn true sdg if you can find it. Pending any big disruptions to the trajectory of our field, these are going to be the least-toxic options for a pit doc for the foreseeable future.

 

[Rekt]

While the whole field is in trouble, there is no EM ship on a more direct collision course with a mountain of **** than a CMG worker-bee gig.
CMGs only meaningful income stream these days are physician pro fees which are being hacked to pieces thanks to politicians and greedy insurance companies. So their only way to meaningfully increase profits is to cut costs...and their highest value targets are their docs.

There seems to be a brief window opening up right now with a pop in demand for EPs. My email has been flooded again with job ads. But it's going to die down quickly as the 1000s of extra new residents graduate from all these new pop-up programs.

If you're working for a CMG the time is now, right now, to take action and make a move to a non-profit hospital-employed/Kaiser/IHS/VA/civi doc at a mil hospital...or the very rare well-protected unicorn true sdg if you can find it. Pending any big disruptions to the trajectory of our field, these are going to be the least-toxic options for a pit doc for the foreseeable future.

All this is, is over-correction for not hiring last year. Current EPs are now lulled into a false sense of security. After this year and the next, the market is going to be brutal. Most of my interns are already looking for ways out.

 

[GeneralVeers]

All this is, is over-correction for not hiring last year. Current EPs are now lulled into a false sense of security. After this year and the next, the market is going to be brutal. Most of my interns are already looking for ways out.

Correct. We went from not hiring, and actively encouraging retirement last year to being understaffed this year due to the return in volumes. It doesn't reflect an improvement in the supply/demand equation.

 

[Brigade4Radiant]

Lol now volumes have decreased and hours are now 8 instead of 10. Lol I wonder what it is like in the FM side of things