Private Practice in Ophthalmology

[Bólivar]

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I am interested in Ophthalmology, so I was looking at the statistics collected by Medscape, and I noticed that the majority of Ophthalmologists were self-employed (60%). This number seemed absurdly high given that only 25% of all doctors are self employed. I also couldn't really find another specialty that seemed to come anywhere near 60%. Does Ophthalmology just really lend itself to private practice? Does this mean that Ophthalmologists deal with the business side of medicine more than any other specialists do?

 

[965978]

Please don’t make duplicate threads.

Shadow an ophthalmologist, as he/she/they/zi would be most able to answer your question from personal experience.

And you shouldn’t even be worrying about this unless you’re in med school.

 

[lalalallala]

I am interested in Ophthalmology, so I was looking at the statistics collected by Medscape, and I noticed that the majority of Ophthalmologists were self-employed (60%). This number seemed absurdly high given that only 25% of all doctors are self employed. I also couldn't really find another specialty that seemed to come anywhere near 60%. Does Ophthalmology just really lend itself to private practice? Does this mean that Ophthalmologists deal with the business side of medicine more than any other specialists do?

I think this makes perfect sense. Think of Emergency Medicine - it makes a lot more sense for an ER doc to work at a hospital. It makes a lot of sense for a dermatologist or ophthalmologist to work in a private practice where people are referred to them. These specialities don't necessarily require a hospital setting.