Moonlighting---how much can you make?

[siempre595]

I'm a PGY-1 taking step 3 in the next month. I know several upper level residents in my program moonlight for extra cash, but what is the typical salary? I've heard everything from $50 for carrying a pager for a night (not bad for just carrying it around) to over $1000 for doing night admits. What are people here typically getting paid?
Thanks

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[P Diddy]

I'm a PGY-1 taking step 3 in the next month. I know several upper level residents in my program moonlight for extra cash, but what is the typical salary? I've heard everything from $50 for carrying a pager for a night (not bad for just carrying it around) to over $1000 for doing night admits. What are people here typically getting paid?
Thanks

here in the bay area for an IM hospitalist job (admit, x-cover, ICU), $100 an hour for 14hr shift.

urgent care: $65/hr for 8 hr.

and many in between.

p diddy

 

[Bobblehead]

It depends heavily on where you're working of course. During residency I was happy getting $50/hr for internal moonlighting admitting general medicine patients. Now I'm not sure I'd want the $100/hr critical care shift but for $125+/hr I'm much more inclined to listen.

Some places pay holiday bonuses. If you don't mind working some holidays keep this in mind when you're deciding on where to get credentialed. Also realize that every place you obtain privileges from will be with you for the rest of your professional life (i.e. every subsequent place will obtain verification from previous hospitals that you were in good standing) so I wouldn't go ballistic and apply to everything in sight.

 

[gutonc]

This has been discussed here before but:

At our program we have 3 different in-house IM moonlighting options ranging from $55-95/hr, most of them 12hr shifts. On the medicine wards it's all admitting and minimal to no cross-cover, on bmt it's both (but usually 1-2 admits/noc vs 4-10 on the GM services).

 

[DrDawg]

Home CSICU call 12hours $500. Rarely have to go in, but if I do I'm there for the night.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I did a poll here awhile back and the most common was between $50-$100 per hour for a variety of work. Holiday pay was generally time and a half or more, depending on how desparate the place is to have you.

 

[rachmoninov3]

anyone know how lucrative moonlighting is now?

 

[deleted109597]

anyone know how lucrative moonlighting is now?

Depends on the specialty.
Some places let you moonlight at radiology centers for $50 an hour and you basically sleep and are only awakened if someone has an allergic reaction.
This goes all the way up to $300 an hour for desperate rural ED coverage at a place trying to stay open.

 

[Allerian1004]

We moon light in our NICU for $65 an hour... very busy NICU... but great for experience since we have 0 fellows.

 

[Buzz Me]

$50/hour for LTAC moonlighting, $100/hour during holidays.

 

[cabinbuilder]

Don't forget that after you pass step III you will then have to apply for a license in that state which takes anywhere from 3 months to 10 months depending on where you are. When you are moonlighting you will also need to carry your own malpractice because your residency coverage is not valid unless it's for residency work.

I moonlighted in residency at multiple places:
Urgent care on Friday night and Saturdays at $80/hr
Physicals for a wt loss clinic for $20/each
Director of the Plasma Center. 4 hrs/week minimum at $100/hr
Call coverage for the oncologist (phone call only) $600 for holding a beeper for 8hrs.

 

[gutonc]

Don't forget that after you pass step III you will then have to apply for a license in that state which takes anywhere from 3 months to 10 months depending on where you are. When you are moonlighting you will also need to carry your own malpractice because your residency coverage is not valid unless it's for residency work.

The license thing is true although 10 months for a simple, first license seems a little dramatic. Assume it will take 2-4 months from start to finish though.

Malpractice is a much more variable situation. I have had 4 different moonlighting gigs. Two of them at my residency institution where I'm covered by the institutional policy. One of them was at a managed care organization hospital where I was included on their standard policy, including tail coverage. The other was at an LTAC with a similar policy. But yes, there are plenty of gigs where you do need your own malpractice coverage, but certainly not all of them.

As for rate of pay:
- University hospitalist service: $65/hr (started off cush, then they changes the admitting pattern and it started sucking pretty hard...I quit signing up for shifts shortly after that)
- University BMT/Onc service: $85-95/hr with $200/shift holiday bonus (works out to $110/h on those days)...can be easy or brutal.
Managed Care Hospitalist service: $100/hr. Constant admitting churn...I admitted 14 patients in one 12 hour shift. I didn't go back after that.
- LTAC: $50/hr for residents, $90/hr for BC physicians. I did a few shifts as a resident. It was easy but didn't pay enough for the hassle.

The best moonlighting pay I'm personally aware of was a friend of mine who moonlighted as an anesthesiologist at a rural hospital in Illinois while she was doing her pain fellowship in Chicago. She worked 1 weekend a month (7a Saturday - 7a Monday) and made $8K/weekend. Usually did a case or two each day, a few OB cases (it was a <100 bed hospital) and generally slept and watched movies.

 

[cabinbuilder]

The 10 months is NOT DRAMATIC. I got my first license in Texas. It TAKES 10 MONTHS in TX to get all the paperwork in, processed, reviewed, and then you wait FOREVER to get your license. I took step III in June of my Intern year, and I got my license the following April. All my other licenses have taken 3-5 months ( I have 6)

 

[gutonc]

The 10 months is NOT DRAMATIC. I got my first license in Texas. It TAKES 10 MONTHS in TX to get all the paperwork in, processed, reviewed, and then you wait FOREVER to get your license. I took step III in June of my Intern year, and I got my license the following April. All my other licenses have taken 3-5 months ( I have 6)

I should have been more clear...I believe it took you 10 months in TX (or CA)...but that's not the norm as you point out.

 

[newdude2009]

The license thing is true although 10 months for a simple, first license seems a little dramatic. Assume it will take 2-4 months from start to finish though.

Malpractice is a much more variable situation. I have had 4 different moonlighting gigs. Two of them at my residency institution where I'm covered by the institutional policy. One of them was at a managed care organization hospital where I was included on their standard policy, including tail coverage. The other was at an LTAC with a similar policy. But yes, there are plenty of gigs where you do need your own malpractice coverage, but certainly not all of them.

As for rate of pay:
- University hospitalist service: $65/hr (started off cush, then they changes the admitting pattern and it started sucking pretty hard...I quit signing up for shifts shortly after that)
- University BMT/Onc service: $85-95/hr with $200/shift holiday bonus (works out to $110/h on those days)...can be easy or brutal.
Managed Care Hospitalist service: $100/hr. Constant admitting churn...I admitted 14 patients in one 12 hour shift. I didn't go back after that.
- LTAC: $50/hr for residents, $90/hr for BC physicians. I did a few shifts as a resident. It was easy but didn't pay enough for the hassle.

The best moonlighting pay I'm personally aware of was a friend of mine who moonlighted as an anesthesiologist at a rural hospital in Illinois while she was doing her pain fellowship in Chicago. She worked 1 weekend a month (7a Saturday - 7a Monday) and made $8K/weekend. Usually did a case or two each day, a few OB cases (it was a <100 bed hospital) and generally slept and watched movies.

I was wondering when you talk about seeing 14 patients in a 12 hour shift are these bread and butter cases (CHF, COPD, pneumonia) or are you dealing with esoteric stuff and crashing patients all around.

 

[gutonc]

I was wondering when you talk about seeing 14 patients in a 12 hour shift are these bread and butter cases (CHF, COPD, pneumonia) or are you dealing with esoteric stuff and crashing patients all around.

Fortunately they were mostly bread and butter. But this wasn't just rounding. This was admitting. Rounding on 14 patients, even 14 sick ones isn't that big of a deal (not a party mind you, but totally do-able). 14 new admits in 12 hours is ridiculous and pretty unsafe.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Roughly $100/hour.

There is everything from $50 to hold a pager to $4500+ to do a 48 hour in-house call shift.

 

[newdude2009]

Fortunately they were mostly bread and butter. But this wasn't just rounding. This was admitting. Rounding on 14 patients, even 14 sick ones isn't that big of a deal (not a party mind you, but totally do-able). 14 new admits in 12 hours is ridiculous and pretty unsafe.

I agree, but it's done everyday in small to mid size hospitals across our great country.

 

[myhandsarecold]

any moonlighting for pgy1? i heard somewhere about interns taking overflow from on call teaching teams, $100/admit, is this common?

 

[gutonc]

I agree, but it's done everyday in small to mid size hospitals across our great country.

I know a lot of hospitalists in academic and community hospitals in my area (and other places), and I don't know a single one who routinely admits 14 patients a day single-handedly.

 

[newdude2009]

I know a lot of hospitalists in academic and community hospitals in my area (and other places), and I don't know a single one who routinely admits 14 patients a day single-handedly.

I'm in the Southeast and I've heard of some hospitalist in community setting admitting that many in a single day. Their salay reflects this of course. I've never heard that in an academic setting because the academic hospitalists have the luxury sometimes to cherry pick the patients they want to see, giving the train wrecks to the resident run teams and keeping the simpler cases for themselves. Some acadmeic hospitalist teams also have a NP or PA who can help with orders and calling consults, which helps the doc.

ACP Hospitalist magazine came out with a survey where most hospitalist think 15 patient encounters is safe, some might even argue a lower number is better. When I say encounters that's admissions and rounding combined.

 

[cabinbuilder]

I know a lot of hospitalists in academic and community hospitals in my area (and other places), and I don't know a single one who routinely admits 14 patients a day single-handedly.

I was a resident at a small (but busy) hospital. We had one hospitalist attending and 3 residents who split the panel, usually we ran anywhere from 10 -15 patients per resident for rounding. When on overnight call (there was only one person on call for the entire building), the most I have admitted myself was 9 between MN and 8 which doesn't include the admits between 8am and MN the day prior so we easily admitted up to 20 patients in a 24 hour shift. I have done that many myself, granted not every day.

 

[gutonc]

ACP Hospitalist magazine came out with a survey where most hospitalist think 15 patient encounters is safe, some might even argue a lower number is better. When I say encounters that's admissions and rounding combined.

Exactly. I'm talking about that many admissions. Do you really think that's safe? I don't. That's 50 minutes/patient including time to review labs/imaging/prior records, time to interview and examine the patient, time to enter orders, review the results of new tests that you ordered, write the note, re-examine the patient, etc. Tack on an hour just for walking from one room to the next (with the occasional piss break) and you're looking at 40 minutes/patient. Is that how you'd want to be dealt with as a patient?

Finally, I was mostly just trying to point out that this seemingly sweet gig ($100/h for a 12h, admitting only shift) turned pretty s****y pretty quickly. I'm much happier with my $85/h gig where I make about $300/patient contact...2-3 admits, 1-2 sick people who require more than a simple eyeball or lab/vital review.

 

[Law2Doc]

...
The best moonlighting pay I'm personally aware of was a friend of mine who moonlighted as an anesthesiologist at a rural hospital in Illinois while she was doing her pain fellowship in Chicago. She worked 1 weekend a month (7a Saturday - 7a Monday) and made $8K/weekend. Usually did a case or two each day, a few OB cases (it was a <100 bed hospital) and generally slept and watched movies.

for that kind of money I'd have a hard time saying no to 4 weekends a month...

 

[HondoCrouch]

$1800-2000 per 8 hour day, radiology.

 

[45408]

Got a friend in derm who moonlights doing derm for $250/hour.

 

[HondoCrouch]

resident..need to be board eligible generally, which means after your second year

 

[SoCuteMD]

resident..need to be board eligible generally, which means after your second year

You are mixing up your terms. "Board eligible" implies that you have completed residency and are eligible to take your board exams.

You are eligible to moonlight when you have a medical license, which depends on the state - usually after completing 1-2 years of residency.

We have internal moonlighting which is paid at $65-85/hr. External moonlighting opportunities pay $100-$200 from what I've heard.

 

[HondoCrouch]

Umm Ive been through the certification process, im pretty sure what the terms mean. In radiology you are considered "board eligible" after you pass the writtens, which is the beginning of your third year. In radiology we (currently) finish residency board certified.

 

[Smurfette]

Umm Ive been through the certification process, im pretty sure what the terms mean. In radiology you are considered "board eligible" after you pass the writtens, which is the beginning of your third year. In radiology we (currently) finish residency board certified.

Interesting!

Other specialties don't consider you board eligible until completely done with residency, though, so it causes some confusion for those not as familiar with how the BC process works.

 

[SoCuteMD]

Umm Ive been through the certification process, im pretty sure what the terms mean. In radiology you are considered "board eligible" after you pass the writtens, which is the beginning of your third year. In radiology we (currently) finish residency board certified.

Interesting. Still, being able to moonlight has nothing to do with board eligibility in other specialties. If it did, most of us wouldn't be able to moonlight during residency. It has to do with having your unrestricted license, which is as I stated above. It may (for radiologists) coincide with board eligibility, but not for other specialties.

 

[HondoCrouch]

Interesting. Still, being able to moonlight has nothing to do with board eligibility in other specialties. If it did, most of us wouldn't be able to moonlight during residency. It has to do with having your unrestricted license, which is as I stated above. It may (for radiologists) coincide with board eligibility, but not for other specialties.

Sorry for the confusion, to clarify I was refering to moonlighting as a radiologist, i.e. giving final reports on imaging studies. We can of course also moonlight in the ER and babysit scanners just the same as everyone else after we obtain a full license after internship.