Any medical-field related owners out here?

I am an Internist practicing Urgent Care (and ER in the past). I am poor. My
car is a 328.

A specialist (GI, Derma, Cardio, etc) or those in the surgical specialties definitely make way, way MORE.

 

Boo hoo, you Doc's need to quit crying. We all know that the ladies can't resist a Dr. Shoot, it's second only to being a rock star in picking up the chicks. Myself, my friend Eric who's a Dr. with a small family practice, and our friend Victor who owns shopping malls across the U.S. were sitting have a few cock tails and the gals behind us started making small talk. After asking what we did (home builder, developer, and family doc) they proceeded to buzz around Eric like fat girls on a birthday cake. Shoot, if I was a single Dr. I would wear my scrubs and stethescope to the club.

 

Yeah it does seem to work that way. Ain't life great.

 

Ahaha... that's funny!
I'm in med school now and people do look at you differently when you mention what school you're in. I went into a jeweler to look at watches one day while my friend was getting his watch cleaned, I struck up a conversation with one of the salespeople and as soon as she found out I went to med school, well she's all nice now and was pulling out all the watches, telling me to try them on and everything. And I can't even afford them now!

The one hospital I used to work at, some MD had a red 360 Modena. Very sexy. It was there in the morning, but was always gone by noon.

Apparantly, opthamologists supposedly make the most on avg. among all specialties, or that's what I heard.

 

Hello:

Just got back from dinner in Santa Monica with some friends finalizing plans on an upcoming bachelor party in Costa Rica. My friends (all 30 something) are in finance/investment banking, medicine, business owners, consultants, ... We never discuss who makes what, but it appears based on assets my friends in investment banking are doing the best with the ones in medicine (ER physician and cardiothorasic surgeon) somewere in the middle. As my wife always says "there are better and easier ways to make money." I should know - I'm paying off her 100K+/- medical school loans.

As for picking up women being a physician can help, but it doesn't seem to make a significant difference when the room is filled with highly compensated professionals.

Just my observations.

 

My father is an ophthamologist. He has alway driven a honda since the mid 70's.

If they make the most, he sure did not spend any of it when I was a kid!!

 

My Grandfather who recently retired was a Opthamalogist...only got sued once at the very end of his career... Had his own clinic and did surgeries at a hospital. Did very well, not the Ferrari type though. Was able to run a decent size Quarter horse ranch for several years and owned and maintained a Beach Bonanza for a long time, but drove a Mercedes and then a supercharged Oldsmobile (haha). If you asked him he would tell you to not go into Medical field because of the Insurance stuff that happened a few years ago. He told me to get involved in business/law. I just want to do business because thats what I feel called to do...

Anyways I was waiting for someone to comment on the future of the Medical Industry and what the average MD, Doctor will be like in 20 years or so? Roughtly the same or what?

 

Based on my discussions with my wife and friends which are physicians they feel that their compensation will not increase as some other professions will.
My friend the cardio surgeon was a partner in private practice, has since joined an HMO, and would like to move into real estate development once his finances allow.

It is very sad because everyone I know in medicine truly entered the profession to be helpful to society but due to potential litigation or being forced to follow HMO policies have become disillusioned.

My friends in law are not happy but they all knew what was awaiting them have accepted the downfalls of practicing law.

The oddest thing is that the only friend who didn't finish college and started in business after leaving during his 2nd year seems to be the most content and financially succesfull - at 30 something he has somewhat retired (more than 2 months vacation this year before the end of October and works less than 20 hours per week).

 

most people including women think I'm a technician instead of a doctor...and I like it that way...I like flying "under the radar," and being discrete...besides my wife's family is the one with the money

 

Interesting thread. I have only read parts of it. The reason there is such a range of opinions on medicine as a career is because it is no longer the same type of profession. It used to be that you went to med school and residency and then started a practice and made wheelbarrows full of money. The average doctor made 5 times the average income but many made multiples of that.

Then it became a business. HMOs, insurance companies, managed care, and the government became involved. The most unprepared group in the universe to deal with this is the doctors. God help them, they don't have a clue what to do. They are taught medicine not contracts, discounts, account receivables, profit/loss etc. Most went into the field because they wanted to cure people and make a good living, they had no idea what lay ahead.

Now that it is more of a business, the stratification of winners and losers is occuring. Like any business, there will be market leaders and losers. Primary car physicians(family docs,internist,pediatricians) have been the worst offenders of signing terrible contracts and accepting less and there are simply more of them so they make the least. General Surgeons have done better but not much. The surgical specialists(orthopaedic, ENT, cardio, neurosurgeons) have continued to do well but are working harder for their money. There are fewer of them and tend to be more belligerent in dealing the bad contracts and don't sign as many bad deals. They are also forming larger groups to negotiate better contracts. Location makes a big difference.
If you insist on practicing in a metro environment where competition is more intense then you will probably make less than someone in a low competition environment. Managing the practice is also very important. Not only are docs all ove the map on this one but they show amazing differences in efficiency, work ethic and drive.

All of these things and MORE are why they is such a difference in success and happiness in the previous posts.

 

The golden age of physicians is over. Unless you're a plastic surgeon or doing eye correction surgeries- where most people pay the procedures with their own money. It's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better- and I'm not just talking about the physician's situation, I'm talking about the entire healthcare system.

Lots of doctors I talk to say don't get into it for the money. Even in med school, they talk about things like, "This artery is a source of trouble... if you don't want to get sued, be very careful when approaching from this side."

But in the end, it's still a pretty cool job. I bounced around a few fields before settling on this and I believe it's where I should be, whether I make several million a year with a Ferrari in a garage or drive a BMW 325i (or Alfa 159- if they ever come back to America!) with a more modest income.

 

Jmmitias hit the nail on the head....Maryland is one of the worst states for reimbursements...I get paid 33% of my surgical charges, and our charges haven't changed much in the 20 years I've practiced. Only when we can getr a new contract that sucks and tell the insurers to stuff it will we be able to reverse trends. Practices that can't do that will see plenty of patients and lose money....our expenses continue to go up and up but what we get paid goes down....

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

You should consider a career in the field of necromancy with this kind of thread resurrection.

 

Ha!

 

Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Practice just north of Toronto. We can live with the current system,but its getting worse and worse for patients -wait times OR restrictions,too much beaurocracy in between patient and doctor. Money is OK (been doing this for 50 years) and still enjoy it. Cars-Ive sold too may good ones for peanuts over the years-Jaguar XK150S,Aston Martin DB Mk III,Maserati mexico, now have 456Gt,Bentley continental ,993 XKR, too old to race-gave up track work 2 years ago. Did beat some pros when I was 20 but in those days I probably would be dead.

 

I wonder how many people from earlier in this thread feel about healthcare now. Work has gone up substantially in my field (radiology) with less pay than back in 2005.

 

This has happened in ophthalmology as well...

 

My cousin is an ophthalmologist now in academics and said the same to me. Super smart guy and did a retina fellowship at Bascom...could have gone wherever he wanted, but the field is no longer what was.

I hope the pendulum will swing back, but I don't see it happening. Specialists no longer make much more than IM. My buddy is a private practice hospitalist and started out making low 3s and somehow has the opportunity to make 4 as "partner" whatever that heck means in a practice that doesn't do procedures or own equipment and just rounds and admits. I think it will be bad for patients in the longrun as [highly qualified/smart] people no longer go into these rigorous fields.

In rads, we have to do 24/7 imaging for our hospitals with fast turnaround times for patient dispo (mainly ED of course). Exams that were rarely done at night like MRI are now routine. Baby boomers + mid levels have compounded the volume we get 24/7.

Derm still is good, though, but I still think radiology is by far the most interesting field. It's unfortunate it became nothing but major corps taking over the desirable metro cities so you can't work there unless you want to work for $25/RVU.

 

What do you do in radiology? I worked in it for about nine years.

 

I'm ABR + ABNM board so general diagnostic radiology (mainly chest and abdomen imaging, but some neuro and mammo) and nuclear medicine (mainly PET). Our cross sectional imaging and PET volume keep going up and up.

I've learned from former colleagues I may never want to live in a major metro city again since they are all corporate or not real partnership groups. They routinely read 16-20k RVUs, which I don't consider safe and stuff gets missed. I don't want to be that patient getting imaged...

 

I agree with everyone's advice here...
Try to figure out what you would like to do (this is the big hard question, since you aren't doing it yet, so how do you know this is what you would like to do ???)
I have been a dentist for 37 years, I own my own practice, same staff for over 25 years, I still enjoy going to the office.
The best advice I receive early in my career...
Moderation, pace myself.. instead of working my butt off and burning out or dying young !!!
When I received this advice, I backed off to working a 21 hour week (three 7 hour days)
my income went......up !!
I make as much or more than my buddies who work 5 and 6 days/week.
Think about what kind of work day you would enjoy waking up to, I hope this helps, Ed