DeaconCav06
Dickie Hemric
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Congratulations. You can quote a table of contents from the Internal Revenue Code.
Doctors are paid way too much in America
- Thread starter Bronson Pinchot
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Congratulations. You can quote a table of contents from the Internal Revenue Code.
wakephan09
fuck duke
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DeacinBama
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The FP residents start out at $46K and get about $1K for each year they progress. There's typically little variation - if any - between what residents from different programs make within the same hospital system, so that's likely to be representative.
Also, the $1K annual pay increase is very common, but the $46K is probably on the high side nationally, particularly when you consider that residents in Boston and Manhattan are making about the same amount.
Henry Chinaski
Steve Lepore
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One man's thoughts:
- specialists probably make too much and tend to game the system by doing pseudo-necessary procedures to boost the top line
- primary care MDs (peds, PCPs, etc.) probably make too little
- malpractice insurance is out of control thanks to ambulance chasers/pussy hounds like John Edwards
- totally agree that the supply/hospital industry is horrendously inefficient and a huge source of waste. No competition is a killer. I live in Gboro and like a lot of mid-sized towns, one system (in this case Moses Cone) has an artifical monopoly. If i don't like the prices, what am i going to do?
- i'd also take the opportunity to rail on one of my hot button issues - the continued fleecing of students by the US education system. There is no fucking way that tuition alone at Wake (or other medical schools) needs to be $50k/year. They do because of the cottage loan industry which allows for the artificial pricing. Its ridiculous that MDs are set loose with so much debt.
- specialists probably make too much and tend to game the system by doing pseudo-necessary procedures to boost the top line
- primary care MDs (peds, PCPs, etc.) probably make too little
- malpractice insurance is out of control thanks to ambulance chasers/pussy hounds like John Edwards
- totally agree that the supply/hospital industry is horrendously inefficient and a huge source of waste. No competition is a killer. I live in Gboro and like a lot of mid-sized towns, one system (in this case Moses Cone) has an artifical monopoly. If i don't like the prices, what am i going to do?
- i'd also take the opportunity to rail on one of my hot button issues - the continued fleecing of students by the US education system. There is no fucking way that tuition alone at Wake (or other medical schools) needs to be $50k/year. They do because of the cottage loan industry which allows for the artificial pricing. Its ridiculous that MDs are set loose with so much debt.
dashionista
Well-known member
I know a resident at baptist right now (first year) who makes $39k I believe, so there is some difference between programs apparently.
What if certain procedures, more basic routine ones, we're required to be openly priced and made aware to consumers. Obviously this solution has many flaws, but it would allow people to choose location based on price as well as quality, thus making the places with inflated prices and shitty care more accountable.
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Baconwfu
Well-known member
He/She probably works 70 hours a week too (I'm good friends with a husband/wife couple that were residents recently and it seemed they pulled 60-70 hour weeks pretty easily), so if you want to break it out hourly, it's about $9/hour
DrummerDeac
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I would prefer that to the way things are done now.
This doesn't apply to me, but how do people with a high deductible and an HSA know what they are going to be paying for a visit/procedure? Do they just go in there blindly and pay whatever the doctor bills them afterwards no matter what it ends up being?
sailordeac
Well-known member
Agree with these points. Increasing government involvment in medical insurance helped to open the financial floodgates.
HalIncandenza
Active member
This was huge for us when my wife was looking at residencies. Virtually every place she was considering started at $40K with the $1k/year escalator, regardless of whether it was Wake, Kansas, Beth Israel(NY), Seattle, San Fran, whatever. We wanted to have a family fairly early, so Winston's crazy low cost of living was super-attractive.
But man, that place is busy. Her first two years, she was consistently running into the 80 hour/week average restriction(so yeah, do the math on the hourly wage), even in her relatively large program. I can't imagine trying to do that in a place like Boston where the cost of living is high, you can't afford to pay back the $200K in loans from med school, have a crappy apartment, etc., but I guess you're basically living at the hospital, anyway.
BacktoBack
Doctor Of Cerumen
Operations are generally reimbursed the same for all surgeons within a given area. I.e. I get paid the same for a tonsillectomy as a guy 20 minutes up the road, assuming both patients have the same insurance. My fee ranges from $150-$300 for tonsil surgery. It involves follow up care for 90 days. It surprises most patients when they see the bill, how low a percentage the surgeon fee is. Tonsillectomy is probably $3-5k in overall charges. Anesthesia charges vary by group and so do hospital charges.
Anesthesia is interesting. We obviously need them. But we hand deliver patients to them. They have little overhead costs (beyond salaries and a few support people) like a traditional medical practice. They have no global period for charges.
Hospitals suck. But they charge high fees for care to insured patients to cover the lost revenue of the uninsured they treat. But it's still shady business.
BacktoBack
Doctor Of Cerumen
Residents are paid by Medicare funding provided to hospitals. Each resident receives funding based on the anticipated length of their chosen speciality. Changing specialities can make funding a challenge for the hospital and can thus be discouraged. The money allotted is distributed by the hospital as it sees fit. Some keep most and give little to faculty physicians and residents. The best provide some to faculty, some to residents, keep some for themselves, and give out some extras like meal money and book money. Having residents can be very financially beneficial for hospitals.
Each resident in a given year of training in a hospital is generally paid the same. I.e intern in pediatrics gets the same as intern in general surgery. The difference is the less desirable programs, like pediatrics, will have more extras like free lunches and book money to attract good applicants.
Each resident in a given year of training in a hospital is generally paid the same. I.e intern in pediatrics gets the same as intern in general surgery. The difference is the less desirable programs, like pediatrics, will have more extras like free lunches and book money to attract good applicants.
BacktoBack
Doctor Of Cerumen
Not sure, to be honest. I pay ~ $15,000 a year in malpractice. It gets higher the longer I'm in practice. Seasoned guys are in the 20's.
Are you on a wRVU productivity system?
BacktoBack
Doctor Of Cerumen
My office does things a little differently. We are a true private practice with no hospital involvement though we operate at and take call for the local hospital. We track our wRVUs and see reports on our office financials monthly at a doctor meeting so we know whats going on. But we actually have two full partners and so we divide overhead and profit equally. The reasons for that set up are a little complicated and beyond what you want to know. But in short we both generally do the same kind and amount of work and so we try and prevent "fighting" for "better" patients by working it this way. I like that set up.
BillBrasky
#PSF
There is not a word in this post that I disagree with.
BacktoBack
Doctor Of Cerumen
That's insane. Naturally we end up doing a lot of audiograms in my office. Cost is nowhere near that. Crazy
BacktoBack
Doctor Of Cerumen
Biased opinion upcoming
I agree, with the exception of the specialist part. First, I can safely say that I don't fleece anyone. You need a surgery I'll offer it to you. If not, then no surgery. Interestingly, it seems patients want more surgery than I think some of them need. I can see how people could be offered unnecessary stuff by unscrupulous providers.
I think primary docs should get paid more. Specialists should not take a pay cut. It fits somewhat to the last point. But the amount of debt most med students have combined with the longer training period required for speciality training necessitates better pay. This says nothing about the greater risk of lawsuit for specialists, the stress of procedural complications, and the need for call coverage and disruptions to life and sleep that entails (almost no primary physicians take call anymore). Patients go to the ED and, if admitted, are treated by a hospitalist. If you drastically cut specialist pay I wonder what it would do to the quality and availability of surgeons?