Doctors’ paychecks are often structured in one of three ways. Salary only, salary plus incentive bonuses, or production only. RVU (Relative value unit) is a method the United States Medicare system uses to value reimbursement for physician services. Some physician contracts, such as my contract, is 100% based on production, or how many RVU’s I bill for.
There are advantages and disadvantages to each system. … Read the rest
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I’ve recently seen a graph that was pretty jarring to say the least. The graph below has been copied in many different articles in the past years. The main claim in this graph is about explosive growth of administrators in health care positions. The growth of administration has increased since Medicaid and Medicare came into effect. However, I cant help but wonder how much of the growth is overblown or real.… Read the rest
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Graduating doctors often have a significant problem to overcome – student loan debt. Many new doctors will not consider a job unless there is some form of debt repayment or ability for debt forgiveness. Jobs that offer debt repayment can end up being a golden handcuff that keeps new doctors attached to their job for potentially longer than they would like.… Read the rest
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It’s no secret that physicians in private practice often times make more money than their colleagues in academic medicine. For hospitalist, the difference in pay can be greater than $100,000 a year! However, taking a job in academia is not all about income. There are many benefits that academic medicine gives to doctors that private practice jobs can fall short on.… Read the rest
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One of the most common questions that medical students, residents, or fellows will ask is should I use REPAYE or PAYE? These two programs seem to be the most popular plans available with IBR being a close third. Determining what plan is right for you could save you thousands of dollars if unable to use the standard repayment plan or refinance for lower interest rate.… Read the rest
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In many ares of medicine, there is the ability to undergo additional training for specialization. For most specialties, additional training via fellowship usually means increased income. One example of increased income is a physician who completed an internal medicine residency and then goes on to complete a cardiology fellowship.
Internal medicine is a 3 year program. Cardiology is at minimum another 3 years of fellowship beyond internal medicine training.… Read the rest
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This year I’ve finally made enough money to reach the Social Security contribution cutoff. The Social Security paycheck bonus occurs when an individual makes more than $127,200 per year. Any income beyond this amount no longer has taxes taken out for Social Security. New attendings who scrutinize their paycheck may notice a nice bump up in the take home pay when this threshold is reached.… Read the rest
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There is no better time than now to give a financial snapshot of what life looks like one year post graduation. One year ago, I graduated from residency and was anxiously wondering how things were going to work out. I signed a contract with no guaranteed income which had me worried if I would make as much money as I hoped for. … Read the rest
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The word entrepreneur in the past decade has seemed to take on a very different meaning, especially for new doctors. Two to three decades ago, being a doctor who was an entrepreneur often meant having a practice that was physician owned with a focus on growing this practice. Fast forward to today and many new physicians think of medicine and entrepreneurship as something that may no longer be possible for them. … Read the rest
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It’s been over six months since I started my job in Austin, TX. In that time, I have built an emergency fund to last 6 months, a wedding fund, and savings to have the ability for a small down payment for a house. The next financial step that I’m interested in is home ownership. One of the largest reasons I am considering buying is that I plan to stay in Austin area in the foreseeable future. … Read the rest
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