Most lucrative specialty in 10 years?

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Slack3r said:
Wasn't W19 the guy that had a journal of all the perceived slights he got by professors/administration?
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Link?
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PL198 said:
that makes absolutely no sense. the people who are gunners aren't politically active at all. people that are gunners are extremely tunnel minded and have zero to little hobbies or interests outside of medicine, hence the desire to solely define their self worth as a student to the point where they actively sabotage others.
and " most politically active physician" is like saying the skinniest fat chick you know. as a whole, physicians are very very very unorganized and poor at putting up organized fronts to represent their interests
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I think you're confused about what a "gunner" is. Also physicians are not an organized front because HELLLLOOOO they don't want to be! What don't you people get about this?!? Each physician is an individual who has gone through a horrible vetting process to get where she/he is, and finally they are relieved to just worry about themselves. Advocacy is on the specialty level. Additionally, most doctors are not interested in being "led" by any individual. They all see themselves as the leader, so why would they ever rally around a single individual or group to represent them?

Another fact, the CMS RVU committee fight over scraps of dollars like hyenas. What ortho gains, general surgery loses (just an example). Its a zero sum game because government is involved. Everything is zero sum when you involve such a gross and destructive institution as government.
 
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Dr. Death said:
How does a person become a hospital administrator making way more than the doctors yet not doing a damn thing? Do you have to know somebody? Get an Masters in Healthcare Administration or something?
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Because we have let that happen. Doctors walking out even for a day, or simply quitting en masse would very soon get these parasites down a few notches.
 
FiveOClock said:
I think you're confused about what a "gunner" is. Also physicians are not an organized front because HELLLLOOOO they don't want to be! What don't you people get about this?!? Each physician is an individual who has gone through a horrible vetting process to get where she/he is, and finally they are relieved to just worry about themselves. Advocacy is on the specialty level. Additionally, most doctors are not interested in being "led" by any individual. They all see themselves as the leader, so why would they ever rally around a single individual or group to represent them?

Another fact, the CMS RVU committee fight over scraps of dollars like hyenas. What ortho gains, general surgery loses (just an example). Its a zero sum game because government is involved. Everything is zero sum when you involve such a gross and destructive institution as government.
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Dead center, or a "twelve" as they said in the army sniper school. Nobody are nastier to each other than physicians. The most cunning and conniving attorney has more respect for his adversaries in court than us. Fighting over the RVU's is absolutely pathetic and so is the coding itself. The AMA is pretty much single-handedly responsible for selling us out, IMHO.

I think the main reason so many physicians are discouraged about politics and activism is because they know how far it takes them -> NOWHERE. Also, the student representatives, chief residents. clinical chief and credentials committee chiefs tend to just be a continuum of previous activity. How many times I see "clinical directors" that were "chief resident"; student body representatives or other such power grab jobs before I have no idea over, but I despise them all the same amount mostly.

Otherwise, the chart pissing contests in itself is enough to never want to trust most other physicians. It is my experience and observations that when a physician gets in trouble, the LAST people to come to his/her aid is another physician. Most likely, they try to find out how to get as far away as possible from you. I know two collegues that have ended their lives over the years due to a combination of things, but there is no doubt in my mind they would be alive if they had humans as collegues and not vile frenzied wolves that will bite them in the butt once the going gets tough.

Our lack of cohesion is our doom and there are enough physicians around to prevent this from happening as well. A horrible state of affairs indeed.
 
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FiveOClock said:
As the country moves left, private enterprise and market-based reimbursements disappear. We get controlled health-care spending growth, true, but no innovative or ground-breaking research comparatively. It is not going to be pretty. EBM is mostly contrived crap used by the gov and insurance companies to assert their influence on doctor and patient choice, as we all know.
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WOW, couldn't agree more. Just like "core measure" like HbA1C level will be used to reimburse the PCP, or rather take MORE money away from him. Yes, this will not get pretty indeed. They will close their eyes and throw NP/PA's at the problem, especially in primary care. A few years ago, some haughties I know were laughing about private hospitals in India and Thailand. Not so much anymore. plenty US trained BC physicians working there now and this will only continue. I am not sure what the government will do with this, but most likely something like demanding you are enrolled on medicare to be licensed. This will destroy many a direct practice since you could NOT take any patient above 65 since medicare doesn't let you bill extra once you are enrolled, no matter how pathetic the reimbursement is. The government will never be able to do anything else once the Atlas is shrugged hard enough. Then again, they asked for it, so it will be there soon enough.
 
Giovanotto said:
So, during interviews when they asked you, "Why do you want to be a doctor?", what did you say? What did you believe? I know this before going in and it sure isn't comforting because I believe you and mostly find your logic sound.
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You need to be ready for such a question and it will likely come early on. Look online for most PC and safe answers and be ready for trick follow-ups. Also, mentioning you are interested in primary care and the underserved is a no-brainer unless they think you are trying to be extra PC and talking too good of a game.
 
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Mjolner said:
I think family medicine goes up and specialties come down. They won't equal out, but I think they'll be a heck of a lot closer. FM will probably be a little less than EM and Gas are now and those two will drop or stagnate. Some places are already seeing FM in the mid to high 200s
Plus ACA will have its say.
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FM will also go down, although not as much as the others. However, what FM will continue to lose out on is the crappy reimbursements that will force more and more into slave contracts, especially out of residency. Again, this is possibly the best thing with FM. There IS a sellers marked AFTER residency and FINALLY you are on your own. Only more socialism will destroy this thing, but the advantage is that physicians are already so squeezed that I think other fields may get it next.

Finally, there is no difference between republicans and democrats here. I sit with the impression that most republicans would prefer to have Obamacare in place to crate a problem they will sell TO US as something they will fix. No comparison otherwise, of course, but the way the democrats take the black vote for granted and end up doing nothing for them, is similar to how physicians get courted by various"conservative" groups, most of them just wanting your vote and your money.
 
Robotics. Ok maybe not in the next 10 yrs, but I definitely wouldn't mind getting trained on some of the sick surgical robots that are in development. Or better yet working for the companies in some sort of consulting capacity.
 
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IlDestriero said:
Dude, you're crazy.
I don't even want to be employed by the hospital or a management company, let alone the government.
Get real.
There will be a govt. takeover eventually, and there will be a private parallel system. Monster health systems that are profitable with huge endowments and cash reserves will survive and transition to private insurance (stay the same really) while floundering and bankrupt systems will collapse under their own weight and become government hospitals. How can the government take over these systems? Won't it be too expensive? Nope, not at all. A bankrupt business that nobody wants goes for pennies on the dollar. First they will make private insurance too expensive for the majority of Americans. That's in process and is unstoppable. More will get subsidized insurance until a tipping point is reached and Medicare for everyone is the only viable system going forward. Fees, particularly facility fees will be cut, bloated profits will be gone as well and the system will continue to limp along. That's when the lean deep pocket mega systems will rise and the rest will fall. Then it's VA care for all and fire sales at the county hospitals.
Today there is a sinking ship in my own city. They've shopped themselves for a merger without success, then they tried to sell. There are a few healthy large hospital systems here, including my own. Everyone took a look, crunched the numbers, and Nobody is interested. It's a money loser in a questionable area and one day the doors will just shut forever. That's the future.
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Great post, a sad perspective though.
 
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I think the specialty where you can make supermutant humans and then establish a school and monitor their super powers and mutant abilities will make the most in the next 10 years.

#threadover
 
DetectiveAlonzo said:
I think the specialty where you can make supermutant humans and then establish a school and monitor their super powers and mutant abilities will make the most in the next 10 years.

#threadover
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what happens if they rebel and recruit the Juggernaut?
 
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DetectiveAlonzo said:
I think the specialty where you can make supermutant humans and then establish a school and monitor their super powers and mutant abilities will make the most in the next 10 years.

#threadover
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Instead of monitoring supermutants to make money, why not use supermutants to make money?
 
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bashwell said:
Instead of monitoring supermutants to make money, why not use supermutants to make money?
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See... that's the thinking we need in more doctors dude.

You figure it out... PM me your proposal... I'll have my people get in touch with your people and let's make it happen.
 
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High quality, office based, cash only care... the private option for those lost in a sea of mid levels.
 
Not going into it but IR has a lot of potential for growth.
 
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Once this week during clerkship I accidentally landed up on the wrong floor. Turns out it was the executives floor; looked completely different from all other parts of the hospital. Hardwood floors, nice lighting, expensive furniture. Man that's the floor you ought to end up on. Everyone looked sharp as f.

They saw me in my browned-short white coat, surely looking beaten down, walking around and I got that "you shouldn't be on this floor look."
 
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Tri723 said:
Once this week during clerkship I accidentally landed up on the wrong floor. Turns out it was the executives floor; looked completely different from all other parts of the hospital. Hardwood floors, nice lighting, expensive furniture. Man that's the floor you ought to end up on. Everyone looked sharp as f.

They saw me in my browned-short white coat, surely looking beaten down, walking around and I got that "you shouldn't be on this floor look."
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Yeah I've stumbled onto the executive floor by accident too. But remember, they only make their fancy salaries and high flying bonuses off of your hard work. Never let them make you feel lower. They are parasites who produce nothing useful while making a handsome living off of your knowledge, skills and education. Without you, they are nothing.
 
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Without having read 5 pages of previous comments, I'm going to say the most lucrative specialty is probably going to be the one that is least threatened by mid-level encroachment.
 
I think procedural-based specialities will always be at the top. That’s just how our “system” is set up, procedures are reimbursed by Medicare & private insurance at higher rates.

I know surgeons that make 700k. Outpatient IM will never come close to that.
 
iqe2010 said:
I think procedural-based specialities will always be at the top. That’s just how our “system” is set up, procedures are reimbursed by Medicare & private insurance at higher rates.

I know surgeons that make 700k. Outpatient IM will never come close to that.
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As much as continuing a thread from over 3 years ago is super fun the people you're responding to haven't been on here in years. d/c the necro
 
WingedOx said:
There's NO way this happens. None. Certainly not in a mid-term election with a Dem in the White House. The only way the GOP loses the house prior to the next redistricting is a MAJOR wave election, and god only knows what situation would create that type of political climate.
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Man this is just weird to read in 2018
 
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LebronManning said:
Don't go into fortune telling
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Is it 2025 already? In all seriousness I thought I’d check, and I guess I was right, spinal fusions are indeed getting cut a bit. I doubt I’ll be around for you to bump this thread in 2025 but so far so good.

And you’re right, Trump won against my wildest expectations (although I don’t think anyone was paying much attention to him back in October 2015) but hey, I’m in good company with Nate silver and everyone else covering the election.
 
Pediatrics, a child's gratitude is priceless.
 
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This thread made me curious about something and wonder if anyone could answer.

Which specialty is the most powerful lobbying force? Ortho? Cardiology?
 
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