Hi all -
Looking for some outside perspective.
I'm an oncologist in a private practice in NJ. I'm about 5 years out of fellowship and I joined my current group after staying on for a couple of years post-training in academia. I decided that the academic environment just wasn't for me, and I'd been seeking greater control and potentially ownership in a large and growing practice.
My base salary after nearly 3 years here is $300k although my real compensation is $72/wRVU, and I'm dished out the difference as a bonus quarterly. I'm on track this year for about 8000wRVUs, and this is about what I reached last year as well. I don't know how this per-RVU compensation compares to what others are seeing but it feels like a lot of money to me. I do work in the hospital essentially every single weekend to generate those numbers.
All would be reasonably well except that my group has just sold out to a private equity backed physician acquisition company. They are now making huge moves (building office buildings, hiring many doctors, acquiring many smaller practices) - which my cynicism tells me is largely to increase book value for an upcoming theoretical sale of the expanded practice in a few years, at which point the PE investors and partners (whom I believe probably all received big windfalls already and may be anticipating another to whatever extent they now have equity in the PE backed company) will cash in again. Most partners are older and close to retirement, as you'd probably expect.
They are talking to me as if I'll make "partner" in a few months -- but I'm not sure what this means practically if the group is now owned by private equity. My hunch is that I'd be a partner in name only, and that my income stands only to decline going forward in the long run as I work for an extra layer of people. Furthermore, the grind looks likely only to increase as they aggressively grow the operation, and I already miss the extra time and attention I'd felt able to give to each patient / encounter while in academia (although there was also plenty not to like about academia).
My wife and I love the idea of moving south, perhaps to TN or SC, for many reasons not necessarily related to work. Which brings me to my question. Is it likely that I'll be able to make a comparable amount of money there, in the current market? I'd hate to make a big move only to start over as a lowly associate making much less money than I am now. I've had a difficult time determining what type of opportinities are really out there -- except that a Google search reveals a few listings in the range of $400-450k (the few which make any mention of salary), which if typical would fit the bill pretty well for me even if it's a slight pay cut. It has also occurred to me that I'm likely to end up an employee in the long run regardless of what I choose to do, practice trends being what they are -- but if all else is equal and my current deal is not a particularly good one, we'd rather not be in NJ.
Thanks in advance for any insight and/or opinions..
Looking for some outside perspective.
I'm an oncologist in a private practice in NJ. I'm about 5 years out of fellowship and I joined my current group after staying on for a couple of years post-training in academia. I decided that the academic environment just wasn't for me, and I'd been seeking greater control and potentially ownership in a large and growing practice.
My base salary after nearly 3 years here is $300k although my real compensation is $72/wRVU, and I'm dished out the difference as a bonus quarterly. I'm on track this year for about 8000wRVUs, and this is about what I reached last year as well. I don't know how this per-RVU compensation compares to what others are seeing but it feels like a lot of money to me. I do work in the hospital essentially every single weekend to generate those numbers.
All would be reasonably well except that my group has just sold out to a private equity backed physician acquisition company. They are now making huge moves (building office buildings, hiring many doctors, acquiring many smaller practices) - which my cynicism tells me is largely to increase book value for an upcoming theoretical sale of the expanded practice in a few years, at which point the PE investors and partners (whom I believe probably all received big windfalls already and may be anticipating another to whatever extent they now have equity in the PE backed company) will cash in again. Most partners are older and close to retirement, as you'd probably expect.
They are talking to me as if I'll make "partner" in a few months -- but I'm not sure what this means practically if the group is now owned by private equity. My hunch is that I'd be a partner in name only, and that my income stands only to decline going forward in the long run as I work for an extra layer of people. Furthermore, the grind looks likely only to increase as they aggressively grow the operation, and I already miss the extra time and attention I'd felt able to give to each patient / encounter while in academia (although there was also plenty not to like about academia).
My wife and I love the idea of moving south, perhaps to TN or SC, for many reasons not necessarily related to work. Which brings me to my question. Is it likely that I'll be able to make a comparable amount of money there, in the current market? I'd hate to make a big move only to start over as a lowly associate making much less money than I am now. I've had a difficult time determining what type of opportinities are really out there -- except that a Google search reveals a few listings in the range of $400-450k (the few which make any mention of salary), which if typical would fit the bill pretty well for me even if it's a slight pay cut. It has also occurred to me that I'm likely to end up an employee in the long run regardless of what I choose to do, practice trends being what they are -- but if all else is equal and my current deal is not a particularly good one, we'd rather not be in NJ.
Thanks in advance for any insight and/or opinions..
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