Getting Paid What You’re Worth as a Physician

Most physicians have little to no formal business training. The only negotiating we do is with our patients, trying to convince them to take a statin to bring that total cholesterol value back under 300. On the other hand, those that prepare our contracts often have business degrees.

Fortunately, there are physicians and physician advocates looking to level the playing field, arm you with the data you need, and help you negotiate a deal that falls in your favor.

I Thought I Was Paid Well…

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When I graduated from my residency in OBGYN in 2017, I went from making $49,000 per year to $250,000. If my math is correct, that’s around a 500% raise?! I was thrilled, to say the least.

Suddenly, that paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle converted to one of comfort and ease. I could go out to eat without fretting over credit card limits, and it didn’t just have to be happy hour deals. I felt like a million bucks, even if it was technically only a quarter million.

Little did I know, one of my fellow residents was only making $235,000, at basically the same job, while another just got offered upwards of $350,000 just a few miles up the street. We didn’t talk about any of this until months later (maybe it was years) when I finally started feeling comfortable understanding contract language and negotiating for myself and my values.

The Impact of Below Market Pay

Understanding how differences in income can impact our lifelong wealth and ability to achieve FIRE is critical. Especially in my field of OBGYN, we’re a field heavily dominated by female physicians.

According to Doximity’s 2021 Physician Compensation Report, published in January 2022, the physician gender pay gap has been growing over the past 5 years. In 2021, the gender pay gap was 28.2%, which represents a $122,000 pay difference in that single year!

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