Why is academic pay lower?

[pathstudent]

I plan on becoming an expert in Head and Neck and/or Soft Tissue pathology (hopefully if things work out) and in my dream I would be a tropical disease expert (but that is not going to happen), and I will only be able to do this in the academic setting.

I was wondering why is academic pay lower than private practice on average across the board. They both bill insurance companies. They both bill medicare. At my institution we bill people that don't have insurance and have to pay out of pocket, and that bill can be a lot.

My question is is where is all this money going? Why do academics make less? Is it because we have time to do research and teach? Maybe, but we get a baseline academic salary and then get to keep a percentage of what we bill in our cases. So why won't we make as much as private practice?

Does anyone know the answer?

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[pathstudent]

thanks...i deleted that stuff about the immunos because I don't really know who it works. It probably differs depending on who your payer is.

 

[yaah]

I think Bierstiefel's point about simple volume of work is important. A typical private practice pathologist signs out every day for hours. In academics you sign out maybe 2 weeks out of a month, and oftentimes your signout load is less than a typical private practice because of subspecialty division or whatever. Cases are also more complicated and time consuming.

Plus, if you work in academics you are privileged to be there so should take less money

 

[djmd]

I think Bierstiefel's point about simple volume of work is important. A typical private practice pathologist signs out every day for hours. In academics you sign out maybe 2 weeks out of a month, and oftentimes your signout load is less than a typical private practice because of subspecialty division or whatever. Cases are also more complicated and time consuming.

Plus, if you work in academics you are privileged to be there so should take less money

And there really isn't a way to upcode for complexity.. Yes, of course, neoplastic and IHC, but a tricky tumors is still just a tumor...