Surgery Salary

[Sunnyn]

Could you all please post your suggestions about Salaries? By year of experience? By Specialties? 

 

Most Lucrative?

Least Lucrative?

 

In the field of Surgery please?

 

Many thanks for your comments. 

 

 

[Walkoffshot]

I think it varies wildly.... Obviously... On state, experience and specialty.

 

I just quit a job 6 months ago (new grad and had only worked 5 months before finding a new job). This was General Ortho surgery, hospital, working 50+ hours/week. Salary was 80k. Potential bonus of 15 k, but never once hit it because I literally didn't do squat in clinic... Which is the reason why I quit. I would have averaged probably 30$/hr annually. Pathetic... Makes me sick thinking about it.

 

I left that job for a private Ortho surgery/sports medicine gig. Been there 6 months. Salary is 100 k. Average 35 hrs/week. No call. Pretty nice benefits. I'm on pace for about 15 k bonus. So potential for 115 k this year at the rate I'm going. If that's stays true then I will average 64$/hour. More than double previous job. Same metropolitan city. That gives you an idea of the variety and how much docs will nit pick and work you for as little $ as they can. I have a great time with my current doc, we get along, and have been pretty efficient. Most of all I'm happy, and feel appreciated for the work I do.

 

Sign up with AAPA and get the salary report if you want data that's state and specialty specific

[Sunnyn]

I think it varies wildly.... Obviously... On state, experience and specialty.

 

I just quit a job 6 months ago (new grad and had only worked 5 months before finding a new job). This was General Ortho surgery, hospital, working 50+ hours/week. Salary was 80k. Potential bonus of 15 k, but never once hit it because I literally didn't do squat in clinic... Which is the reason why I quit. I would have averaged probably 30$/hr annually. Pathetic... Makes me sick thinking about it.

 

I left that job for a private Ortho surgery/sports medicine gig. Been there 6 months. Salary is 100 k. Average 35 hrs/week. No call. Pretty nice benefits. I'm on pace for about 15 k bonus. So potential for 115 k this year at the rate I'm going. If that's stays true then I will average 64$/hour. More than double previous job. Same metropolitan city. That gives you an idea of the variety and how much docs will nit pick and work you for as little $ as they can. I have a great time with my current doc, we get along, and have been pretty efficient. Most of all I'm happy, and feel appreciated for the work I do.

 

Sign up with AAPA and get the salary report if you want data that's state and specialty specific

Wow! What a huge shift within the same area.  Wish you the best with this new job and thanks for the suggestion.  Btw how high have you seen experienced ones making and how long does it usually take them to reach there (yrs?)?

 

Thanks

[delco714]

An i the only one bothered by the recent more so than past onslaught of PA salary questions?

[TTURedRaider]

Yes, you are.  You can keep your nose stuck in the air in another thread. 

[Reality Check 2]

Delco - I find it a bit disturbing as well.

Honest salary questions are one thing - but I get a feel of greed to the questions.

"how can I make the most as a new grad with no experience?"

 

I feel for the debt coming out of school but I can't help but wonder what the new grads are setting us old folks up for?

There is a ceiling in a lot of jobs, especially corporate. If you start so close to the ceiling - there is no reward for 20+ years of experience and skills when new grads are pushing higher and higher.

 

I am old and still feel that medicine is an art to be practiced and not a road to wealth. I WILL make more than a new grad and that is how the world works. 

 

My own opinion

[PACdan]

An i the only one bothered by the recent more so than past onslaught of PA salary questions?

 

Not alone. I find it a bit disconcerting that the questions are "what pays the most, the fastest" and not really concerned with actual interest in a particular area of medicine.

 

 

Yes, you are.  You can keep your nose stuck in the air in another thread. 

 

LOL. Really? When a new poster asks about the highest pay and fastest way to get there across multiple threads, that shows a very money centric thought process. The school cost/debt issue is a real one, but I don't think it should lead one down a path of practicing medicine based on the highest possible reimbursement. That's a great way to burn-out and stunt clinical growth.

 

As a second year PA student interested in one of the lowest paying areas of medicine, I can say that the extreme focus on money by pre-PAs or current students is a bit upsetting. I have just as much loan debt as the next guy, but I think we should be guiding our future clinical practice choices based more on interest/passion/skill and not on dollar signs.

[Sunnyn]

Not alone. I find it a bit disconcerting that the questions are "what pays the most, the fastest" and not really concerned with actual interest in a particular area of medicine.

 

 

 

LOL. Really? When a new poster asks about the highest pay and fastest way to get there across multiple threads, that shows a very money centric thought process. The school cost/debt issue is a real one, but I don't think it should lead one down a path of practicing medicine based on the highest possible reimbursement. That's a great way to burn-out and stunt clinical growth.

 

As a second year PA student interested in one of the lowest paying areas of medicine, I can say that the extreme focus on money by pre-PAs or current students is a bit upsetting. I have just as much loan debt as the next guy, but I think we should be guiding our future clinical practice choices based more on interest/passion/skill and not on dollar signs.

All great comments....we should definitively guide our work with your passions, knowing what to expect in terms of hours, commitment, sacrifices, gains/losses, also needed to factored in when choosing a speciality.  Some people, inspite of having an interest in X speciality, choose another one Y, because not of lack of passion for it, but maybe due to the fact they might not be able to fully balance their lives.  Also, knowing what the profession fully entails, is not a bad idea as well. 

[Guest Paula]

Compensation packages will all be changing when our practices switch to Value Based reimbursement.  I have no idea what it all means, but so far think we will all take a hit with salaries, regardless of the specialty. 

[delco714]

I really don't see posts nearly as often stating... Oh look I'm moving to this UNDERSERVED area where I'm most needed, compensation commensurates, and even qualifies for loan repayments/forgiveness.. Instead. It's...I live I am overpopulated and competitive area and am willing to hate my life to make money and not move..within reason. Open your eyes PA students/pre PA. I'm guessing my loans are still more than most of yours..more than my mortgage. My wife is the same. So...just scour and search the forums bc this has been answered far too many times and make the decision that's best for you and keep an open mind

[narcan]

I agree it's disconcerting, but let's not make a mountain out of a mole hill. Look at the original post: he was in a so-so job making $80K a year for too many hours. He was able to find and negotiate a much better job in the same field in the same area. Can you blame him? The fact that there is still so much variance in our salaries suggests that either: 1) practices don't know how to mathematically value PA's or 2) we're chronically undervalued and thus there is significant upward room for growth in salary.

 

There is inherent asymmetric information flow between the employer and employee. There is a rough salary range PA's can expect based on published data, but I have never seen good data on how much revenue we actually generate by practice area. The employer knows (or should) what a new PA can expect to bring into the practice given the patient load and specialty. PA's can bill at 85% of the physician (sometimes 100% if on-site supervision), yet the physician usually makes 3-5 times what we do. This is of course a reflection on their inherent value and knowledge, but from a pure financial perspective, our value is much closer to the physician's in terms of the revenue we generate for the group/practice/hospital, and also in terms of the higher reimbursed revenue we allow the physician to focus on (e.g. surgery).

 

We shouldn't let employers undervalue us for the sake of nobility. Money isn't everything, and medicine will never make you wealthy (you need passive income for that if you ask me), but if we don't start valuing ourselves in terms of the revenue we generate, employers are never going to do it for us. They're in this to make money, even if we, as providers, are not.

 

Should you play hard ball with a rural clinic trying to make ends meet? Absolutely not, and providing care to rural and undeserved populations is both laudable and rewarding work, but should we demand competitive, value-based compensation from for-profit employers and corporations? Emphatically, yes.