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I hear people constantly mentioning salary differences for academic physicians vs private practice. (~80k vs 300k/yr) However, as far as I can understand an academic physician earns a true salary: it doesn't matter if one sees 10 or 100 patients a day, he'll always get paid the same montly salary by the hospital/university.
However, when you are in private practice, you are in control of your hours, # of patients, what type of procedures to do, etc, so in fact I think the term salary does not apply to private practioners, but rather "earned income" might be more suitable? For example, how can you assign a "starting salary" for private practice IM docs at city X if doc A works like a dog but doc B works 9-4, 4 times a week?
However, when you are in private practice, you are in control of your hours, # of patients, what type of procedures to do, etc, so in fact I think the term salary does not apply to private practioners, but rather "earned income" might be more suitable? For example, how can you assign a "starting salary" for private practice IM docs at city X if doc A works like a dog but doc B works 9-4, 4 times a week?
