MFM -why is there such a discrepancy between academia and private practice?

[kerfluxxed]

Money is definitely not the end-all-be-all of this specialty...but...

Why is it that the average salary for a Maternal/Fetal Medicine physician is ~460K (salary.com), ~420K (Economic Research Institute), ~$430K (Comparably) on google, but ~200-300K at the academic institution where I am training? (It's ~380K average on the 2019 MGMA spreadsheet floating around).

Which of these numbers is closer to reality? It doesn't seem like the MFMs at my institution work part time at a private practice - that's a lot of income to give up....

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[anonperson]

Money is definitely not the end-all-be-all of this specialty...but...

Why is it that the average salary for a Maternal/Fetal Medicine physician is ~460K (salary.com), ~420K (Economic Research Institute), ~$430K (Comparably) on google, but ~200-300K at the academic institution where I am training? (It's ~380K average on the 2019 MGMA spreadsheet floating around).

Which of these numbers is closer to reality? It doesn't seem like the MFMs at my institution work part time at a private practice - that's a lot of income to give up....

Depends on the institution.

University of California salaries are public for example.

The MFMs at UC Irvine for example are making $400k to $500k. You will find similar numbers for UCLA as well.

Are you certain that is their salary? Unless it's someone trusted or you can see a W2, you can never be certain. Plus, if they are more academic and less clinical, salaries will take a hit. Also depends on the amount of admin time, vacation etc.

Some academic centers will low ball but I think it is very center dependent.

Typically what I see now from most academic centers is two paths for faculty. One is a traditional research path with less clinical duties and a similar pay cut. The other is nearly all clinical with better pay. Basically like a private practice/community physician but with the name of the institution behind you.

 

[kerfluxxed]

Thank you for your response!

The academic MFMs are making that much at UC Irvine? That's insane.
I just looked up the salaries for the professors at UCSD, but I think I only looked at the assistant/associate professors. Thanks for the insight - it's a long path and I'd like to stay in academia...