3 ms·

Most medical doctors in the US aren't paid as a function of patients seen. Unless they're in a niche subset of medicine (cosmetic surgery) or have their own pra

Most medical doctors in the US aren't paid as a function of patients seen. Unless they're in a niche subset of medicine (cosmetic surgery) or have their own practice setup (hint: you won't find surgeons buried in school debt operating their own practice; the overhead is insane [staff, material goods, and oh god the insurance] would bankrupt a surgeon straight out of residency/fellowship), they're going to be debtors regardless of whether or not that blood test or drug is administered, or whether or not they send out for that radiology consult. It's almost certainly "when all you've been trained with is a hammer <from MS3, through residency, then fellowship for most surgeons, ~7-8 years>, ..." syndrome as others here have said

FireBeyond 11y ago
"or have their own practice setup" No, but they do form "associations". Small practices between 6-10 surgeons to share costs but otherwise be effectively a private practice.
- iheartmemcache 11y ago
  Without derailing this discussion, yeah this happens but only at a later stage in your career where you have the 'name recognition' in your subset of surgery so that your colleagues trust you enough you to even bring you in as a partner. I'm limited to the NE region, but I've never once seen a surgeon or medical practitioner form his/her own association or join in as a JP into an already established association until they were well out of the burden of debt. In the same way that attorneys generally don't go straight into the market and form Johnson, Thompson LLP until they have a few wins under their belt at Skadden or Cravath and a few clients they know they can bring over, your typical niche association won't hire you into their surgical association even with half a decade out with a bunch of articles with you as lead surgeon in high-impact journals. You're still considered a risk as a partner (nepotistic situations notwithstanding).

FireBeyond 11y ago

"or have their own practice setup" No, but they do form "associations". Small practices between 6-10 surgeons to share costs but otherwise be effectively a private practice.

iheartmemcache 11y ago
Without derailing this discussion, yeah this happens but only at a later stage in your career where you have the 'name recognition' in your subset of surgery so that your colleagues trust you enough you to even bring you in as a partner. I'm limited to the NE region, but I've never once seen a surgeon or medical practitioner form his/her own association or join in as a JP into an already established association until they were well out of the burden of debt. In the same way that attorneys generally don't go straight into the market and form Johnson, Thompson LLP until they have a few wins under their belt at Skadden or Cravath and a few clients they know they can bring over, your typical niche association won't hire you into their surgical association even with half a decade out with a bunch of articles with you as lead surgeon in high-impact journals. You're still considered a risk as a partner (nepotistic situations notwithstanding).