Hi! So for ROI, the income numbers are skewed for private practice. I worked at a bank for a few years and they get two "different" incomes for tax purposes. Most businesses follow a model like that, businesses in healthcare, construction, restaurants, etc. So as a business owner they receive a larger salary than they do for being a physician. This only applies to the physicians owning the practice however. As for job market, it varies by state, but there is always going to be a demand for podiatrists as the population in need of foot care is growing rapidly.
Remember!! People usually comment on SDN or reddit when they're upset or angry. Most pod students and podiatrists are happy and content with their studies and work. I'd recommend shadowing like 5 podiatrists, and talking to the students and residents that are there. I spoke to at least 1 student from 5 different podiatry schools, and spoke to residents from 4 different schools before making my decision. I have only heard good things about AZCPM, congrats on getting in!!!
A major message on here is there is no guarantee of a good ROI outside of hospital jobs. ROI varies so much from person to person in podiatry versus other professions where you almost know for sure how much you will be paid based on which setting you choose to practice in. For podiatry the most common setting is private practice, and as an associate initially .....please ask around when you shadow and report back. Most will tell you that you need to be an owner or employed by a large organization to do well in this profession.
Did you plan on opening your own office when you enrolled in podiatry school or did you want a job with a good salary, good benefits and lots of vacation and matching of 401K? If you would rather be a small business owner with lots of risk but potentially lots of reward and the one making all the decisions, then perhaps you are a bit more of an entrepreneur and podiatry might work out for you.
Yes there are self employed podiatrists that are doing very well. Those will often keep their "salary" low to avoid payroll taxes on much of their income they receive as distributions. There is no perfect salary survey, but If you think this is the reason it appears so many podiatrists are not doing well, you are wrong.
In podiatry you very often have to create you own opportunities...this is just the way it is. In many other healthcare professions you don't need to create your own opportunity. You already created your opportunity by all the training you completed and will be compensated highly with no worries at all about finding a job and usually finding a job about wherever you want.
RRA by ABFAS with a few years of experience, maybe add a fellowship and being geographically open is close to a guarantee you will get a very good organizational job with a very nice salary and very good benefits in podiatry. Now go figure out the percentage this applies to in our profession and remember you still might have to be geographically open.
You CAN do very well in podiatry in private practice also. It usually requires being an owner and that in turn requires a buy in or opening your own office. Many places do not offer partnership at all or at a fair price if they do. Plenty with average training have done very well in private practice. There are also plenty not doing well. There are also plenty that it took a long time to do well which works against ROI. If you have only a dog and no kids you want to put through college in the future that delay to make a good salary might be OK. Benefits are usually bad to mediocre in private practice which also works against ROI.
I know of no other healthcare profession other than podiatry that requires this cost and length of training and has a poor job market.
The need for podiatry is NOT growing rapidly......this has been falsely promoted for decades and proven false so many times. We are replacing retiring podiatrists with a couple percent growth at best. That is why keeping numbers low in this profession is important. The aging and increasing diabetics are NOT causing unmeet demand for podiatrists. I really wish podiatry was in such demand that everyone was guaranteed a great job.
