Depends how it's structured I guess. Is he an employee of the hospital, or does the hospital contract the doctor for surgeries? If he's an employee, it only m

Depends how it's structured I guess. Is he an employee of the hospital, or does the hospital contract the doctor for surgeries? If he's an employee, it only makes sense that he gets a "base" salary and bonuses for actual surgeries. That makes it less risky for him, if, for example, there's a whole month of people not needing ear/neck surgeries. If the doctor's practice is contracted by the hospital to come in and perform the surgeries as needed, you can bet your ass that doctor would be charging $5k+ per surgery.