A couple of points:
1. You, as a clinician, are ultimately in charge of your hours, income, and life. I don't necessarily feel too much sympathy for the OB's who bad mouth the profession and often state that they are "over-worked and underpaid!" Often, they are solo practitioners that have refused to join a larger practice for less money and better life style, in exchange for staying solo and making more money.
2. On the contrary, OB is actually a money maker. Despite lower global pays (i.e. $2200 by Medicaid for prenatal care and delivery in the District), it still generates a good deal of income for your practice especially if you're dealing with a low risk cohort. When you look at young practitioners or newer groups, often time they have to keep the OB as a means of capturing the patient population at present time and hope to phase into GYN only several years down the road.
3. GYN only practice is a reality if you focus on MIS and have a good referral base. Again, this is difficult for a young practitioner unless they join an existing MIS practice or a hospital based setting.
4. Lastly, the way to generate income from GYN only is to have a large population, have the ability/funds/support to do alot of in office procedures (i.e. hysteroscopies, essures...) as in O.R. procedures hardly pay what they used to. Sadly enough, its more lucrative to stay in office and churn out a bundle of Pap's and EMB's than in O.R. for an hour or so doing a TVH.
Let us know what you come up with in your research. I'm curious to see other people's takes on this topic.
