how much do MDs make?

[Guest Mephistopheles03]

hi guys,

 

i don't mean to be the financial weasel in the bunch but i just read on http://www.jobfutures.ca (search for general practioners & family physicians) that docs only make about $23/hour... which comes up to a grand total of $44 160/yr if you work $40 hrs a week.

 

can any of you guys (moderators included) verify / refute this? i've already applied to meds this yr but i also have the option to go to grad school (IMS at U of T)...and if i'm looking at $100K in debt over 4 yrs in med school, then i'm not sure i could afford to be a physician after all...sucks huh?

 

ps. this board is fantastic...i stumbled upon it just in time for my last interview (better late than never, i guess)

[Guest UofCMeds2005]

Salaries really vary, as many physcians are on fee per patient ie. they get paid a certain amount for ach patient they see - not by hour. So, you could make $40 in 15 min etc. It is really hard to gauge. The figure you listed is probably a good avg for family physcians. But, I worked for one that took off 3 months of the year b/c family physcians are capped at $300,000/yr. When he reached his cap he stoped working and took an extended vacation. Doctors are not saints - we shouldn't be expected to work for free. Also, certain specialties like derm and neuro surger make salaries in the $300,000s.

 

But all this aside if you want to be a doctor money should not really matter. I will be well in the $100,000 debt range when I graduate, but I love what I am doing. Besides making $160,000 is no small change. That means you could probably pay off your debt in two years (after residency) - especially if you have a spouse that has enough income to support you.

 

I can't be more serious when I say this but money should not enter into your decsion. I don't think you have anything to worry about.

 

In additon, I have a lot of friends with grad degrees who only make 45K after two years grad school. Maybe in the states you can make serious cash.

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Check this link: Doctor salaries discussion

 

In particular, check the second last post. . . it has figures for Ontario docs, with rough overhead % estimates to factor in.

[Guest OncologyMike]

I'm a little confused.. I was also with the understanding that most doctors were paid dependent upon the amount of patients they saw. I was also aware of the caps in place.

 

However, a chemical engineer told me that a doctor fresh out of internship does NOT, on average, make the same as an experienced doctor...that on average, a doctor's pay raises with his experience.

 

If so, what other elements are at work here? Isn’t it primarily performance based rather than seniority based such as the engineering industry?

[Guest Lactic Folly]

Hmm.. startup costs?

[Guest MayFlower1]

OncologyMike,

 

I can't speak for other provinces, however, in Ontario, all licenced physicians in the same field get paid the same rates. Deltas in experienced versus inexperienced docs salaries is more likely to do with how efficiently they run their practice...the inexperienced doc likely takes longer...is less organized, etc.

 

Overhead and startup costs...probably another factor for some new docs starting up practices...however, this doesn't really affect income...only savings

 

Anyway, there are likely other factors, however, I believe this probably captures at least some of the observed differences, if they even exist.

 

Peter

[Guest UWOMED2005]

In the "olden days" that might also have been true if a doctor had to build a practice from scratch, and didn't have a full patient roster off the get go. That's rare now. . . we're so short on doctors at the moment, that it takes a matter of days to full a practice roster.

 

In fact, if you look at the OMA figures in that thread I linked to above, the 75th percentile bracket is probably the most accurate for physicians fresh out of residency. Why? Those are the ones desperate to pay down debts, start making dents into things like mortgages and office expenses, and catch up on all the RRSP contributions they missed when they were in school, so they're the doctors who often take on the most patients and work the most hours. After these things have been dealt with, some physicians scale back their hours as the $$ isn't always as important and finally figuring out who their kids are, is.

[Guest Ian Wong]

I'm going to move this into the CaRMS and Residencies forum. If you poke around there, there's a number of threads regarding physician salaries both in Canada and the US.

 

Ian