Primary care...seriously

[dreamweaver1988]

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I am really interested in primary care--leaning toward internal medicine right now, but also looking to forward to shadowing physicians in EM and peds soon.

Does everyone say they want to practice primary care, though, to get in to medical school, then switch to a specialty?

 

[Iliketoytles]

I am really interested in primary care--leaning toward internal medicine right now, but also looking to forward to shadowing physicians in EM and peds soon.

Does everyone say they want to practice primary care, though, to get in to medical school, then switch to a specialty?

People may say it during interviews because that's what they think the interviewers at DO schools want to hear. I doubt there are too many people who actually WANT to go into primary care... simply because the pay may not be sufficient to pay off loans and debt. Another reason is because people find certain specialties more interesting than primary care.

If you're considering primary care, good for you! There are great scholarships for people committed to primary care that you should look in to. 🙂


-----EDIT

Just to add about the interview thing... you don't have to say you want to go into primary care in your interview. Just be honest and genuine in what you are interested in. This is assuming you still have interviews coming up.

 

[dreamweaver1988]

People may say it during interviews because that's what they think the interviewers at DO schools want to hear. I doubt there are too many people who actually WANT to go into primary care... simply because the pay may not be sufficient to pay off loans and debt. Another reason is because people find certain specialties more interesting than primary care.

If you're considering primary care, good for you! There are great scholarships for people committed to primary care that you should look in to. 🙂


-----EDIT

Just to add about the interview thing... you don't have to say you want to go into primary care in your interview. Just be honest and genuine in what you are interested in. This is assuming you still have interviews coming up.

Thank you, I will try to demonstrate via my shadowing and clinical volunteering that my interest in primary care is genuine.

Barring disaster, I'll be in the fray next cycle.

 

[CopToEM]

In my immediate area (very rural!), I have outright asked three primary care physicians about their salaries and gotten answers.

One of them is fresh out of residency and he's contracted at $200k for the first year and salary based on percentage of revenue generated every year thereafter. IM/Peds.

Another has been practicing for ~10 years and the past two tax years his net salary was $380k and $400k. Of that salary, roughly $275k was a direct result of his daily practice and he is paid based on a revenue generation model as well. Peds.

The last has been an EM physician in two ~120 bed hospitals for the last 10 years. Total time in practice is about 17. Currently, between the two hospitals, which he rotates between on a bi-weekly basis, his net pay is ~$250k.

I'll be honest... there are more rural places but my hometown's population is 4,500. Certainly, there must be places in America where primary care docs only make $130k... the numbers don't lie. However, I have seen no evidence that it's here in my neck of the woods.

There's no shame in being interested in primary care. Primary care is one of my only reasons for going into medicine. Whether I end up in IM, FM, EM or a combination of any of those three only time will tell. 👍

 

[Iliketoytles]

In my immediate area (very rural!), I have outright asked three primary care physicians about their salaries and gotten answers.

One of them is fresh out of residency and he's contracted at $200k for the first year and salary based on percentage of revenue generated every year thereafter. IM/Peds.

Another has been practicing for ~10 years and the past two tax years his net salary was $380k and $400k. Of that salary, roughly $275k was a direct result of his daily practice and he is paid based on a revenue generation model as well. Peds.

The last has been an EM physician in two ~120 bed hospitals for the last 10 years. Total time in practice is about 17. Currently, between the two hospitals, which he rotates between on a bi-weekly basis, his net pay is ~$250k.

I'll be honest... there are more rural places but my hometown's population is 4,500. Certainly, there must be places in America where primary care docs only make $130k... the numbers don't lie. However, I have seen no evidence that it's here in my neck of the woods.

There's no shame in being interested in primary care. Primary care is one of my only reasons for going into medicine. Whether I end up in IM, FM, EM or a combination of any of those three only time will tell. 👍

That's some serious cash.

 

[rafman]

I bet a lot of people, like me, would want to go into primary care, seeing the severe shortage we have. But knowing that I'm going to have well over 300k+ in loans, plus a wife and kids to support seriously makes me rethink that decision. Also, the way the congress is cutting medicare, I doubt the compensation for PC docs isn't going to improve in the near future.

However, if I'm lucky and do get into a TX school, I will be more more than happy to go into PC, as I'll have less than 80K in loans.

 

[ShyRem]

I was honest at the time and said that while my leanings were toward EM based on my previous career and experience, I was going to try and have an open mind, start with EVERYTHING on the table and cross specialties off my list rather than put them on the list -- I explained that I just didn't have enough experience about most specialties to know if I truly would like them or not at that point.

Every school seemed happy with that answer.

 

[DocEspana]

Overly propagated "fact" number 342: That primary care doesn't pay well.
please stop spreading this nonsense. Especially if you don't live in the northeast (huge physician density + physician payments that are "outlier" low below the rest of the US = single handedly brings down the payment stats). Primary care pays plenty. *Plenty*. The correct argument against it is that you have to do a lot of work to earn your money. Pediatricians really dont make a lot of money because their patients are never *really* that sick. They need to see a lot of people. FP generally doesn't handle the sick patients either, but if their pool is big enough (and they're willing to do OB) they can make plenty off of the every day emergencies like childbirth. IM simply does not get paid well for what it does. BUT, they have sick patients in droves. So even if compensation is low, they have an easy time seeing very high volume. The issue is that a plastic surgeon can do two consultations and one surgery all day and walk out $5,000 richer in one day. A urologist can do 4 surgeries a day for $2,500 pocket cash. There is no way an internal med doc is going to see 100 patients a day to get to $2,500 in a day. But the pay is still good, its just the volume of work to get there that is the issue. Some PC docs really rake in the money. The key to that is a good contract in an underserved (read as: middle america) area. Avoid cities if you want to make money in PC.

overly propagated "fact" 343: No one goes into Primary Care
Statistically 50% of physicians are in primary care. slightly more than 50% for DOs. Chances are you'll be in it. It is what medicine "is". Get used to it and stop crapping all over the field most of us will be in, statistically.

overly propagated "fact" 344: The debt prevents you from entering primary care
There is a vein of truth to this. a national study of medical students showed that debt was the most powerful (and statistically significant) predictor of a student's preference for primary care vs other fields. High debt, low interest in primary care. With that said, actually get a hold of some honest phyisicans and ask them about their salary. You'll quickly realize that unless you try to open your own office fresh out of residency (hint: DONT DO THAT) you'll be making plenty of money to cover even the most monsterous of debts with a few years of good fiscal planning. Even if you're FP or Peds. Is this a universal assurance? Obviously not. But you'd have to be terrible with money, have tried to open your own office (again, dont do it) or have the worst time finding patients to run into issues at the income predicted.

random comment: ER isn't primary care. IDK if a poster above meant to imply that or not, it might have just been my read. But ER is basically the antithesis of primary care. The only way ER is primary care is that its one of the ways into a bed on a primary care floor.

 

[DrMaximus]

Overly propagated "fact" number 342: That primary care doesn't pay well.
please stop spreading this nonsense. Especially if you don't live in the northeast (huge physician density + physician payments that are "outlier" low below the rest of the US = single handedly brings down the payment stats). Primary care pays plenty. *Plenty*. The correct argument against it is that you have to do a lot of work to earn your money. Pediatricians really dont make a lot of money because their patients are never *really* that sick. They need to see a lot of people. FP generally doesn't handle the sick patients either, but if their pool is big enough (and they're willing to do OB) they can make plenty off of the every day emergencies like childbirth. IM simply does not get paid well for what it does. BUT, they have sick patients in droves. So even if compensation is low, they have an easy time seeing very high volume. The issue is that a plastic surgeon can do two consultations and one surgery all day and walk out $5,000 richer in one day. A urologist can do 4 surgeries a day for $2,500 pocket cash. There is no way an internal med doc is going to see 100 patients a day to get to $2,500 in a day. But the pay is still good, its just the volume of work to get there that is the issue. Some PC docs really rake in the money. The key to that is a good contract in an underserved (read as: middle america) area. Avoid cities if you want to make money in PC.

overly propagated "fact" 343: No one goes into Primary Care
Statistically 50% of physicians are in primary care. slightly more than 50% for DOs. Chances are you'll be in it. It is what medicine "is". Get used to it and stop crapping all over the field most of us will be in, statistically.

overly propagated "fact" 344: The debt prevents you from entering primary care
There is a vein of truth to this. a national study of medical students showed that debt was the most powerful (and statistically significant) predictor of a student's preference for primary care vs other fields. High debt, low interest in primary care. With that said, actually get a hold of some honest phyisicans and ask them about their salary. You'll quickly realize that unless you try to open your own office fresh out of residency (hint: DONT DO THAT) you'll be making plenty of money to cover even the most monsterous of debts with a few years of good fiscal planning. Even if you're FP or Peds. Is this a universal assurance? Obviously not. But you'd have to be terrible with money, have tried to open your own office (again, dont do it) or have the worst time finding patients to run into issues at the income predicted.

random comment: ER isn't primary care. IDK if a poster above meant to imply that or not, it might have just been my read. But ER is basically the antithesis of primary care. The only way ER is primary care is that its one of the ways into a bed on a primary care floor.

I didn't even recognize you with your changed picture!!! 😱 lol

Sorry to derail the thread... back on topic, I had no idea that primary care could pay that well.👍

 

[DocEspana]

I didn't even recognize you with your changed picture!!! 😱 lol

Sorry to derail the thread... back on topic, I had no idea that primary care could pay that well.👍

It's temporary. No worries.

 

[ManBroDude]

A Lannister always pays his debts. Put a santa hat on the sister-lover at least!

 

[AMEHigh]

In my immediate area (very rural!), I have outright asked three primary care physicians about their salaries and gotten answers.

One of them is fresh out of residency and he's contracted at $200k for the first year and salary based on percentage of revenue generated every year thereafter. IM/Peds.

Another has been practicing for ~10 years and the past two tax years his net salary was $380k and $400k. Of that salary, roughly $275k was a direct result of his daily practice and he is paid based on a revenue generation model as well. Peds.

The last has been an EM physician in two ~120 bed hospitals for the last 10 years. Total time in practice is about 17. Currently, between the two hospitals, which he rotates between on a bi-weekly basis, his net pay is ~$250k.

I'll be honest... there are more rural places but my hometown's population is 4,500. Certainly, there must be places in America where primary care docs only make $130k... the numbers don't lie. However, I have seen no evidence that it's here in my neck of the woods.

There's no shame in being interested in primary care. Primary care is one of my only reasons for going into medicine. Whether I end up in IM, FM, EM or a combination of any of those three only time will tell. 👍

That's because you get paid more to work in undesirable rural areas. Those numbers aren't shocking for the area. Most of us won't end up working in those areas though.

 

[AMEHigh]

And no, not everyone says they want to go into primary care to get into medical school. I surely didn't because that would've been a lie and I had no problems with my interviews.

 

[Ebola4Breakfast]

I am really interested in primary care--leaning toward internal medicine right now, but also looking to forward to shadowing physicians in EM and peds soon.

Does everyone say they want to practice primary care, though, to get in to medical school, then switch to a specialty?

I was completely honest in all of my interviews. This meant that in several of my interviews, as introductions were made around the table, I was the sole person who didn't want to go into primary care. Or at least I was the only person who admitted I had other plans. It never seemed to hurt me.

I want to go into oncology, either adult or pediatric. Nearly all of my shadowing experiences are in these fields. My research focuses were in cancer research. I showed passion and long-term commitment to the field. I told my interviewers what my plans were at the present, but I also expressed that I intended to treat my clinical rotations as an exploration of all my options. It seemed to be an okay answer that served me well.

 

[sylvanthus]

In my immediate area (very rural!), I have outright asked three primary care physicians about their salaries and gotten answers.

One of them is fresh out of residency and he's contracted at $200k for the first year and salary based on percentage of revenue generated every year thereafter. IM/Peds.

Another has been practicing for ~10 years and the past two tax years his net salary was $380k and $400k. Of that salary, roughly $275k was a direct result of his daily practice and he is paid based on a revenue generation model as well. Peds.

The last has been an EM physician in two ~120 bed hospitals for the last 10 years. Total time in practice is about 17. Currently, between the two hospitals, which he rotates between on a bi-weekly basis, his net pay is ~$250k.

I'll be honest... there are more rural places but my hometown's population is 4,500. Certainly, there must be places in America where primary care docs only make $130k... the numbers don't lie. However, I have seen no evidence that it's here in my neck of the woods.

There's no shame in being interested in primary care. Primary care is one of my only reasons for going into medicine. Whether I end up in IM, FM, EM or a combination of any of those three only time will tell. 👍

EM is not considered primary care fyi.