So can we talk money?

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How much money are you making (or would make assuming you worked full-time)

  • $400k/year or more

    Votes: 26 16.4%
  • $300,000 to $399,000

    Votes: 27 17.0%
  • $250,000 to $299,000

    Votes: 27 17.0%
  • $200,000 to $249,000

    Votes: 44 27.7%
  • $150,000 to $199,000

    Votes: 20 12.6%
  • Less than $150k/year

    Votes: 15 9.4%

  • Total voters
    159
A friend of mine has been doing locums for hist first year of attendinghood, and he's enjoyed it. Not sure exactly how much he's getting paid, but I do know it's 1099, they provide housing and food allowance and such. I think he's taking a employed position this summer though. Locums could be a fun thing to do for a year and it shouldn't hurt your chances at other jobs in the future. You may also look into telepsychiatry.

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Awesome, thanks for the advice. I'm an avid follower of WCI so I'll definitely be reading up on that for the tax/financial difference that comes with a locum vs a W2 employee.

$168/hr sounds great right out of the gate. While psych in general is not as lucrative as the other proceduralists, I am hoping to target between 150-200/hr if possible. Alaska is not out of the question and given that location I would presume higher hourly rates as well.....I spoke briefly to a locum agency guy who said that 120-125/hr was "good" for a newly minted doc in his region that he recruited for...I was laughing heartily inside and needless to say I don't expect any communication with him any more.

I did do some more reading and on the WCI site they do have a guest who posted about his locum experience he did like it too. Some of the negatives include the locum agency trying to short change the doc (the less they provide in benefits...ie, housing/rental car...the more money they make) and also that the paperwork could be onerous if you end up in lot of different places...not to mention that Credentialing/Med staff committees generally will raise an eyebrow at a CV that shows many hospitals/jobs in a short period of time. And of course the temporary nature of it (may get cut short once the employer finds a perm). But hopefully can find a 6-12mo gig that can last for a while.
$168/hr was what I got on my final assignment. The first one paid $140. The lowest I got was $130, in the saturated Northeast. By the time the year was up, the locums agency was trying to pitch me other gigs that paid $200, but by that time I'd accepted a permanent job.

The paperwork can be frustrating. The locums agency will set you up on a phone call with a medical director or administrator who'll say "OK, everything sounds great, see you July 1st" or whatever, only for you to find that you still need to fill out this incredibly onerous hospital credentialing application that requires a work history of everywhere you've ever worked, every hospital where you've ever had privileges, every academic institution you've ever attended, including dates, names, addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers, copies of all diplomas and state licenses, 3 references, USMLE passing verification, and all kinds of other redundant things you'd never even imagine someone would ask for or care about. Then they'll tell you that can take 3 months to be approved, so you'll be wondering if you'll even be able to start the assignment on time, even though the person in charge of your actual area of work wants you there.

Also, every place I worked locums wanted me to join full-time. So I don't think finding something that will last as long as you want it will be a problem.
 
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Those are all bigger than average patient loads. Wisconsin and Minnesota are fairly good salary wise, but I don't think any are paying you what you're worth for that amount of work. The job in Rhode island has got to be kidding, 190k...maybe for 9 patients...

You mentioned that these are still lower than what I would be worth. What would you see as being a fair pay rate for each?
 
Offer trail was as follows, all inpt, major cities

FL- 7 on 7 off 230k, 20k sign on, 20pts
MI- 5 day 210k, 15k sign on, 16 pts
MN- 7 on 7 off 290 plus rvu, 40k sign on, 20pts
4 day 270k, 40k sign on, 12pts
RI- 5 day 190k, 20k sign on, 15pts
WI- 5 day 280k, 20k sign on, 180k loans 5 years, 14pts
This is my take, and it's from the perspective of these jobs not being in large metro areas (In bigger cities, especially with a large residency program producing new psychiatrists each year, the employer can really low ball you because of the supply of psychiatrists in those areas). In general, in a medium sized city or smaller, 350,000 or less, I think you are worth $350K/year as an inpatient doctor seeing 14+ patients every day. In part this is because most psychiatrists do not want to work in the hospital for some reason, so you are in demand, and hospitals need a psych service to function (they may not want a psych service from a financial standpoint, but it's a necessity to function). Plus, the supply of psychiatrists in these cities is generally far below the need.

Additionally, just based on some rough RVU calculations for 14 patients a day, assuming 1 admit and 1 discharge, and 12 followups at 99232 at $65/RVU:

Admit 2.61 RVU =$169.65
Discharge 1.9 RVU = $123.50
Followup 1.39 RVU each x 12 patients = $1084.2

Day total = $1377.35 x 240 days a year = $330,564, plus occasional add on therapy codes, and medical floor or ED consults that will likely get pushed onto your plate and you're easily at $350K/ year.

So the MN and WI jobs are close, especially if there was more info about the RVU part of the salary for MN. And if it's typical you carry less than the maximum patient cap, your salary would justifiably be less. This is why I think RVU is the fairest way to address it; if you work more you get paid more, if it's a slow day and you leave at 2:00, you get paid less.

The offers in FL, RI, and MI are crap unless you're in a highly desirable area with lots of psychiatrists.
 
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