Opportunities in USA for Canadian AP-only pathologist

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HeyDalaron

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I am aware through the postings on this forum and through speaking with some of my American counterparts that the job situation in the USA is far less than ideal, but since our government in Canada is about to increase taxes to stratospheric levels I thought I'd ask anyway...

What are the opportunities for an AP-only pathologist in the USA? In Canada most pathologists train in AP-only. From my readings it seems that not having CP is a huge problem for private groups. Can certain fellowships negate this?

Were opportunities strong enough I would consider returning to residency to get certified in CP, but if the job situation is as weak as people say it is, I would doubt the effectiveness of that move. Is this an accurate assessment?

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I am aware through the postings on this forum and through speaking with some of my American counterparts that the job situation in the USA is far less than ideal, but since our government in Canada is about to increase taxes to stratospheric levels I thought I'd ask anyway...

What are the opportunities for an AP-only pathologist in the USA? In Canada most pathologists train in AP-only. From my readings it seems that not having CP is a huge problem for private groups. Can certain fellowships negate this?

Were opportunities strong enough I would consider returning to residency to get certified in CP, but if the job situation is as weak as people say it is, I would doubt the effectiveness of that move. Is this an accurate assessment?

It likely depends. If you're looking at academic jobs a good portion of them would not require you to have CP training, as many large academic centers have separate AP and CP staff. Also, large corporate labs (Quest, LabCorp, etc) would probably be fine hiring AP only applicants. However, if you want a private practice job in a small group or community hospital then CP is more necessary, as you'll be expected to cover a segment of the lab or cover CP call. Personally I'm in a small private group and I never took my CP boards (although I did do the training) so I'm AP only, but I'm dermpath so CP was irrelevant for me.
 
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but since our government in Canada is about to increase taxes to stratospheric levels I thought I'd ask anyway...

Proof/Link...? I checked with a very respected Canadian friend of mine who's a physician and he says there's no such impending tax increase and he confirmed the same with other Canuck contacts, so I'm calling b.s. on this.
 
Proof/Link...? I checked with a very respected Canadian friend of mine who's a physician and he says there's no such impending tax increase and he confirmed the same with other Canuck contacts, so I'm calling b.s. on this.

The government is proposing increasing the small business tax by almost fourfold and the estate tax to over 90%. For Incorporated physicians such as myself, this presents a significant reduction in income. As we are without pension or benefits, this proposed increase will make retirement planning basically impossible. I can only assume your Canadian contacts are employees, in which case this would not apply to them, which might possibly explain their lack of awareness.

A link to an article from the Ontario medical association president regarding these changes:

Tax changes will encourage doctors to leave | Toronto Star
 
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lol love how the coroner just rushed to the defense of Canada
 
Ok, apples and oranges somewhat. I thought that you were referring to personal income tax levels which is why no one I asked knew of it. But I talked with another friend who's a PCP in Ontario and he verified this is a tax on small businesses as the article you linked states. So private practice physicians would be affected being small business owners, but so would attorneys, accountants, etc. He also said that the majority of physicians in Canada are in pp so a significant proportion would be affected. You can thank Trudeau's liberal economic agenda for this which isn't winning any votes from doctors over there...

www.theglobeandmail.com/Tax changes would hurt profitable businesses, opponents warn Ottawa

Having said that, this is a proposed change. Nothing has been confirmed and it likely won't be until the Canadian Parliament meets in the fall. Even then, I'm hearing that it likely will not pass and will just be used to close loopholes and used as a starting point for future negotiations.

I asked my friend what would he do in the event if it did pass and he said that he'd increase his retirement contribution derived from personal business income which would be protect it. Not ideal, but at least it keeps the government's paws off it. And if (it's a big if) in the unlikely event it did pass then you're probably right that you and your medical colleagues will be seeking greener pastures South of the Border. Dammit...pathologists flooding in from North seeking jobs in our already saturated market in the US??? "Stop Canadian Tax Changes Now!"
 
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