The future of endocrinology?

[ninin]

I have a couple questions:

1. I heard that insurance companies don't all consider endocrinologists true specialists, which affects reimbursement. As a rule, when you see someone for Diabetes, for example, do the insurance companies see you as a general internist or as a specialist? If so, is this a big deal?

2. What % of endocrinologists do pure endocrine, and what is the average salary if you do so? I'm hearing $160,000 for general IM, and only like $175,000 for endocrinologists. Investing in another 3 years to be a specialist and not getting paid like one doesn't sound appealing.

3. What is the future of endocrinology? Will they have good job prospects in the future, or will general internists be managing the DM epidemic? You couldn't give anesthesia, allergy, and PM&R spots away say, 10 years ago, but now they're experiencing a boon. Will endocrinology pay better in the future as the field advances, and is this a great time to get in while it's still relatively a wide open field?

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[Linie]

One of the reasons I'm doing Endocrine is that I don't always like general medicine. Some of my patients I love and will miss a lot, others make me want to jump out a window. I can't wait to be able to say, "Hmmm, low back pain? Sounds like you should discuss that with your internist." But then I'm hoping I can cherry pick the gen med patients that I enjoy.

I hadn't heard that insurance companies don't consider Endocrine a true subspecialty.... I don't see why they wouldn't, it's a subspecialty in every other way with board certification, etc.

The big endocrine disease is DM, for sure, but obesity is also starting to fall under the endocrine area. So with the rates of both of those growing, endocrine is here to stay.

The other thing I love about endocrine is the lack of middle of the night emergencies. DKA can be handled by any internist/FP/peds. The few endocrine emergencies are so rare I'd probably be psyched to come in to see them in the middle of the night (thyroid storm, pituitary apoplexy, acute adrenal insufficiency).

I see you also wrote about the future of Rheum. I was considering rheum before I settled on endocrine... I'll go read your post over there.

 

[xmxpro]

One of the reasons I'm doing Endocrine is that I don't always like general medicine. Some of my patients I love and will miss a lot, others make me want to jump out a window. I can't wait to be able to say, "Hmmm, low back pain? Sounds like you should discuss that with your internist." But then I'm hoping I can cherry pick the gen med patients that I enjoy.

I hadn't heard that insurance companies don't consider Endocrine a true subspecialty.... I don't see why they wouldn't, it's a subspecialty in every other way with board certification, etc.

The big endocrine disease is DM, for sure, but obesity is also starting to fall under the endocrine area. So with the rates of both of those growing, endocrine is here to stay.

The other thing I love about endocrine is the lack of middle of the night emergencies. DKA can be handled by any internist/FP/peds. The few endocrine emergencies are so rare I'd probably be psyched to come in to see them in the middle of the night (thyroid storm, pituitary apoplexy, acute adrenal insufficiency).

I see you also wrote about the future of Rheum. I was considering rheum before I settled on endocrine... I'll go read your post over there.

Hello,
As I can tell, you are a practicing endocrinologist. I have both MD and PhD, and I am a PGY1. I am also a FMG and was in the middle of my Endo. Residency in Europe, when I met my husband.
Currently to date, I have 37 publications in many in conjunction with my PhD focus (Stoke, Hypertension and Diabetes.). Although I have approx 8 publication in regards to GI.
From what I have been reading, I am a bit shy to go into Endo. It seems that insurance companies only pay per procedure, and as an Endo doc, we treat mainly with pills, not procedures.
If I were to choose anything else other than Endo, I would go into GI for my fellowship.
Can you give me any advice?
Thanks

 

[june015b]

Hello,
As I can tell, you are a practicing endocrinologist. I have both MD and PhD, and I am a PGY1. I am also a FMG and was in the middle of my Endo. Residency in Europe, when I met my husband.
Currently to date, I have 37 publications in many in conjunction with my PhD focus (Stoke, Hypertension and Diabetes.). Although I have approx 8 publication in regards to GI.
From what I have been reading, I am a bit shy to go into Endo. It seems that insurance companies only pay per procedure, and as an Endo doc, we treat mainly with pills, not procedures.
If I were to choose anything else other than Endo, I would go into GI for my fellowship.
Can you give me any advice?
Thanks

Both fields have good future. GI is evolving fast in intervetional/diagnostic procedures and trasnsplantation. There is a big job demand out there for GI currently.