Job Market in Houston

[MilHemeOnc]

Hey y'all,

I'm a current resident deciding between hospitalist and heme/onc. My end goal is to return back to Houston. I know the job market for Houston tends to be high-paying in most specialties, with lower salaries in the giant medical center academic hospitals. My question is, with MD Anderson and Baylor cancer centers, how are salaries/job offers in the Houston area? Are there well paying jobs in private practice or privademic models as well? Was wondering how or if smaller players are able to compete with the name brand of MD Anderson in the area.

I also saw that MD Anderson faculty are paid well (assuming those positions are super hard to get), but it looks like most of them are primarily research, is that true or is it possible to be a clinician for those big academic cancer centers with decent pay?

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[Crafs338]

I looked and discussed some opportunities with methodist hospital and in UT houston both satellite facilities but I felt the salaries were not very competitive vs other cities and did not find the positions that atractive so I told them thank you

 

[MilHemeOnc]

I looked and discussed some opportunities with methodist hospital and in UT houston both satellite facilities but I felt the salaries were not very competitive vs other cities and did not find the positions that atractive so I told them thank you

Do you have a ballpark range for starting salaries at them? Curious if it's a huge difference from Dallas/Austin.

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

I'll be honest, I think you are not asking the right question if you're trying to decide between Hospitalist vs. Heme/Onc as I strongly suspect the following will apply to both specialties:

If you plan on bringing many millions of dollars worth of funding with you to MDACC then they will probably pay you pretty well. Otherwise Houston, Dallas and Austin would be considered "desirable locations" and thus you will not get paid very fairly to work there. If you are willing to live/work in the suburbs or towns ~1+ hour away and can find a job in private practice then pay is probably better.

 

[MilHemeOnc]

I guess I misspoke a little; I'm heavily leaning towards heme/onc as I was most interested in those rotations so far. I mainly am trying to figure out if I can break even with the opportunity cost of doing fellowship.

After seeing @gutonc post what his system is doing on the west coast in a desirable city, was hoping I could at least get the same in Houston haha. Whitecoatinvestor seemed to post that we need to make about 120k (pretax) more after fellowship to make up for the opportunity cost because of taxes and lost interest income.

 

[Crafs338]

Do you have a ballpark range for starting salaries at them? Curious if it's a huge difference from Dallas/Austin.

salary range is 240,000-330,000 depending on experience, etc. There is an RVU bonus plan, extensive benefits, sign on and relocation combined (240,000=4700 rvu with max clinical bonus of 90,000. Additional RVU over threshold paid at 35.00. Max program bonus 10,000. Full benefits, sign on/relo bonus. Contracts are three years long

 

[Crafs338]

salary range is 240,000-330,000 depending on experience, etc. There is an RVU bonus plan, extensive benefits, sign on and relocation combined (240,000=4700 rvu with max clinical bonus of 90,000. Additional RVU over threshold paid at 35.00. Max program bonus 10,000. Full benefits, sign on/relo bonus. Contracts are three years long

Dallas and San antonio will have more open employed potions given the larger hospital vs austin

 

[MilHemeOnc]

salary range is 240,000-330,000 depending on experience, etc. There is an RVU bonus plan, extensive benefits, sign on and relocation combined (240,000=4700 rvu with max clinical bonus of 90,000. Additional RVU over threshold paid at 35.00. Max program bonus 10,000. Full benefits, sign on/relo bonus. Contracts are three years long

Wow, that was a lot lower than I expected. $35 per RVU over threshold and $51 wrvu seems pretty similar to IM primary care numbers no? Even for east coast (which I thought was lowest) MGMA average is around 400k, do y'all know how people get to that?

 

[Crafs338]

Wow, that was a lot lower than I expected. $35 per RVU over threshold and $51 wrvu seems pretty similar to IM primary care numbers no? Even for east coast (which I thought was lowest) MGMA average is around 400k, do y'all know how people get to that?

Don't know that why stop looking with methodist and UT also wa similar so not really good. So look in either San antonio or Dallas

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

I guess I misspoke a little; I'm heavily leaning towards heme/onc as I was most interested in those rotations so far. I mainly am trying to figure out if I can break even with the opportunity cost of doing fellowship.

After seeing @gutonc post what his system is doing on the west coast in a desirable city, was hoping I could at least get the same in Houston haha. Whitecoatinvestor seemed to post that we need to make about 120k (pretax) more after fellowship to make up for the opportunity cost because of taxes and lost interest income.

Methodist might pay similar to @gutonc (well probably less but certainly better than the med center) if you are willing to work in a satellite office outside the loop. Remember his job is not at the mothership either. I highly doubt you'll find an MGMA median job for hospitalist in the med center either just to be realistic.

 

[MilHemeOnc]

Don't know that why stop looking with methodist and UT also wa similar so not really good. So look in either San antonio or Dallas

Yeah, from what I've read on SDN I was expecting starting salaries at least at 300k or higher for hospital employed non-academic positions. Guess I didn't realize how desirable Texas was getting at this point. I think Methodist (satellite hospitals) is starting hospitalists around 250k, so seems like fellowship trained heme/onc is getting paid less? Was that for 4 days/week?

 

[MilHemeOnc]

Methodist might pay similar to @gutonc (well probably less but certainly better than the med center) if you are willing to work in a satellite office outside the loop. Remember his job is not at the mothership either. I highly doubt you'll find an MGMA median job for hospitalist in the med center either just to be realistic.

@Crafs338 Said those salaries were for satellite offices, which I believe are all outside of the loop. That's why I was surprised by how low it was.

 

[gutonc]

I guess I misspoke a little; I'm heavily leaning towards heme/onc as I was most interested in those rotations so far. I mainly am trying to figure out if I can break even with the opportunity cost of doing fellowship.

After seeing @gutonc post what his system is doing on the west coast in a desirable city, was hoping I could at least get the same in Houston haha. Whitecoatinvestor seemed to post that we need to make about 120k (pretax) more after fellowship to make up for the opportunity cost because of taxes and lost interest income.

Wanna hear something funny? We're recruiting right now and are getting turned down left and right due to poor compensation.

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

@Crafs338 Said those salaries were for satellite offices, which I believe are all outside of the loop. That's why I was surprised by how low it was.

Eh you can probably hit 400s outside of the loop but I wouldn’t count on 500+.

Look the point is if you like Heme/Onc then do it. In TODAY’S CLIMATE it is financially superior to general IM but there is no guarantee it will stay that way for 20-30 years. I would say we have more protection from the midlevel army but if we move to a capitation system for example we will be up a certain odiferous creek with no paddle. If you want to make good money then trying to live in the center of a top 5 metro area and being employed by a hospital system isn’t gonna be the move.

Feel free to PM me in a few years if I’m still on here.

 

[MilHemeOnc]

Eh you can probably hit 400s outside of the loop but I wouldn’t count on 500+.

Look the point is if you like Heme/Onc then do it. In TODAY’S CLIMATE it is financially superior to general IM but there is no guarantee it will stay that way for 20-30 years. I would say we have more protection from the midlevel army but if we move to a capitation system for example we will be up a certain odiferous creek with no paddle. If you want to make good money then trying to live in the center of a top 5 metro area and being employed by a hospital system isn’t gonna be the move.

Feel free to PM me in a few years if I’m still on here.

Looked up some of the satellite salaries for MD Anderson outside the loop, and yeah, you're right, its not too bad. Looks like they're making 340kish to be a satellite of a big brand name, which I don't think is terrible for academia.

On the other hand, looks like a lot of the academic hospitalists and PCPs at UT Houston are pulling around 270k as well. Houston salaries seem really weird. At least commuting from inside -> outside the loop is much better than the reverse (except The Woodlands... please not the woodlands)

 

[HemeOncHopeful19]

Commuting anywhere in Houston should involve hazard pay.

 

[MilHemeOnc]

salary range is 240,000-330,000 depending on experience, etc. There is an RVU bonus plan, extensive benefits, sign on and relocation combined (240,000=4700 rvu with max clinical bonus of 90,000. Additional RVU over threshold paid at 35.00. Max program bonus 10,000. Full benefits, sign on/relo bonus. Contracts are three years long

Was this recent/do you know if it was 2021 RVUs? Sounds actually possible if so to hit the max clinical bonus I suppose.

@gutonc I don't know if this is crazy, but averaging 15-20 patients per day 4.5 days a week with 6 weeks vacation would get you almost 8000 RVUs in a year right? Because 2.2ish RVUs per patient under the new standards? I've only seen large scale academia with professors working 2 days/week

 

[Crafs338]

Was this recent/do you know if it was 2021 RVUs? Sounds actually possible if so to hit the max clinical bonus I suppose.

@gutonc I don't know if this is crazy, but averaging 15-20 patients per day 4.5 days a week with 6 weeks vacation would get you almost 8000 RVUs in a year right? Because 2.2ish RVUs per patient under the new standards? I've only seen large scale academia with professors working 2 days/week

Yes it was information given to me by the recruiter this year

 

[gutonc]

Was this recent/do you know if it was 2021 RVUs? Sounds actually possible if so to hit the max clinical bonus I suppose.

@gutonc I don't know if this is crazy, but averaging 15-20 patients per day 4.5 days a week with 6 weeks vacation would get you almost 8000 RVUs in a year right? Because 2.2ish RVUs per patient under the new standards? I've only seen large scale academia with professors working 2 days/week

Yup. But people only look at the guarantee and not the productivity upside.

We're 4d/wk for FT, which I think is a more sustainable schedule. And most of my docs are lazy AF, so nobody's pushing the envelope on this comp plan. But I did do the math now that we have enough data (comp plan has only been in place for 9 months) and it looks like the median comp for the group is going to be a sneeze away from $500K this year. A hair over $500K for those who meet the (laughably easy) citizenship incentives.

For funsies, I did my own math, assuming I was FT clinical (I'm not) and was just as busy in that setting as I am now (which I wouldn't be immediately if I shifted to that, but could within 6 months) and my total comp climbs up to the MGMA 90th %ile range. Which is nice to know.

 

[spacegun]

Maybe look into Texas Oncology if you're in Houston? I heard they're good.

 

[MilHemeOnc]

Yeah I've heard the same as well. Most of them seem to work at offices in the suburbs + another office 30 min away from suburbs, assuming because of all the competition in Houston area. Not too bad though, if you live in the suburbs at least, but probably hard to live in the inner loop.