Many people have considered jumping into the medical field at one point or another in their life, perhaps thinking that if they can get through the stress of medical school and residency programs that they will be financially set for life. This mindset, although hopeful, is not exactly true.
While it may seem that the income of a practicing physician is high enough for a fiscally secure life, the truth is that for many healthcare professionals, student loans and other bills render their income either neutral or insufficient. Furthermore, physicians who practice within a large hospital will often only see a fraction of the amount that the patient is charged for a service.
In 2014, the results from the 86th annual Medical Economics physician survey showed that 84% of physicians were doing either the same (financially) or worse than the year prior. Furthermore, out of those who responded, nearly 40% said they were among the physicians who were worse off.
Additionally, many physicians are now spending a good portion of their time dealing with exhausting administrative duties because of rapidly advancing healthcare reforms. So now physicians are forced to work on tasks that are not necessarily creating revenue for their practices or improving health outcomes for patients, but are rather depleting their resources and time.
All of these factors have led some healthcare professionals to seek out ways to generate supplementary income. These financially secure healthcare professionals are more easily able to maintain comfortable lifestyles by looking to additional avenues for increased income.
In October 2015, the Medical Economics by Readex Research surveyed 2,065 medical respondents who indicated an active presence in practicing medicine. With a margin of error of 2.1%, the report illustrated how physicians are confronting the financial challenges of the healthcare industry.
The following list presents the top 13 alternative ways physicians can increase their revenue:
1. Consulting
2. Additional medical work
3. Clinical work
4. Non-medical work
5. Expert witness
6. Teaching
8. Urgent care
9. Locum tenens assignments
10. Preceptor
11. Clinical trials
12. Military service
13. Telemedicine
