Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

About your salary: We value you

Anonymous
Physician
June 13, 2020
Share
Tweet
Share

Doctors across America are getting strikingly similar messages from their hospital administrators—that we are highly valued, but that they will reduce our salaries due to the pandemic. Whether you are working on the frontline and risking your life (and your family’s health) with limited PPE available (and indeed locked up and rationed), or whether you are soldiering on in the outpatient clinics. Your salary is going down, whether you signed a contract and moved across the country for the higher salary to help pay off your med school debts, or whether you’ve been comfortably working for the hospital system for the last two decades but now you have kids in college (and those fees are not going down).

They tell us that they appreciate us, and our work. And that they support our well-being, and that we should exercise self-care. Which would be a lot easier if we were actually valued and our salaries paid in full as per our contracts.

Some friends have learned of salary cuts from the news breaking the story—before their hospital makes announcements.

Others of us have had our own vacation time or sick time balance taken away to allegedly help fund our salaries. During a pandemic where we are on the frontline and could get very sick?

Some of us have lost the contracted hospital contributions to our retirement funds. Really?

There are federal stimulus payments.

We have been quietly accepting broken contracts because at least we’re getting paid most of what we expected. But medical jobs have always been stable compared to other fields—possibly part of why our parents encouraged us to be doctors in the first place. We have spent years of denying ourselves for the delayed gratification of these jobs—all the while developing mountains of debt. We are lucky to have jobs when people in other sectors are losing them. Does that permit administrators to help themselves to hospital bailout money, as recently reported, while trying to make us feel guilty about having jobs?

Administrators write in their hospital-wide emails that they too are taking lower salaries; recent news stories have, however, enlightened us about the meaning of these pennies in light of administrators’ other enticements.

Their silver tongues say that we are heroes, warriors, champions of health care. But they’re happy to accept the government silver on our behalf.

Something is very wrong here.

American health care being for profit is what encourages this behavior from the top. Governors prohibited elective surgeries for public safety. But elective surgeries are a cash cow for hospitals, and canceling them leads to decreased revenues. Alternatively, in a national health system where surgeries are done when they are needed for the health of the population, there is not such a cow in the first place.

I have practiced both in America and overseas, returning from working abroad recently. Coming in with a fresh view, I was struck by the backward nature of our fee-for-service practices despite touting how important prevention is. There is so much negative talk about national health care systems from people who have never experienced them, much less worked in them.

In contrast to the US, our colleagues in the rest of the world who have been on the frontline of fighting the pandemic are not experiencing salary cuts. They signed contracts for salaries and wow, they are actually getting paid their salaries. National health systems lack the mushroom cloud of hospital administrators and CEOs. Countries with national health care are actually putting their money where their mouth is in prevention.

The ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure is actually what saves the dollars in national health care, as well as saving the population. But on a larger level, public health decisions in systems with national health care actually are decisions about the health of the public—never more important than in a pandemic. We’ve just seen New Zealand (which has a national health system) open back up on June 8th—with no new cases in weeks due to their public health and government response.

ADVERTISEMENT

Around the world, people bang pots and pans at designated times to thank health care workers and show their support. Other places, this is not in lieu of our full salary.

The author is an anonymous physician.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Immigrant and minority physicians at the frontline of pandemics [PODCAST]

June 12, 2020 Kevin 0
…
Next

Protect and serve. Do no harm. Both are failing.

June 13, 2020 Kevin 1
…

Tagged as: COVID, Infectious Disease, Practice Management

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Immigrant and minority physicians at the frontline of pandemics [PODCAST]
Next Post >
Protect and serve. Do no harm. Both are failing.

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Anonymous

  • When the white coats become gatekeepers: How a quiet cartel strangles America’s health

    Anonymous
  • Graduating from medical school without family: a story of strength and survival

    Anonymous
  • Why young doctors in South Korea feel broken before they even begin

    Anonymous

Related Posts

  • Why health care replaced physician care

    Michael Weiss, MD
  • A physician’s addiction to social media

    Amanda Xi, MD
  • Health care needs more physician CEOs

    Alexi Nazem, MD
  • Why this physician teaches health policy in medical school

    Kenneth Lin, MD
  • The health care system will cause its own physician shortage

    Advait Suvarnakar and Aashka Suvarnakar
  • Are negative news cycles and social media injurious to our health?

    Rabia Jalal, MD

More in Physician

  • How a rainy walk helped an oncologist rediscover joy and bravery

    Dr. Damane Zehra
  • How inspiration and family stories shape our most meaningful moments

    Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA
  • A day in the life of a WHO public health professional in Meghalaya, India

    Dr. Poulami Mazumder
  • Why women doctors are still mistaken for nurses

    Emma Fenske, DO
  • Adriana Smith’s story: a medical tragedy under heartbeat laws

    Nicole M. King, MD
  • Why U.S. health care pricing is so confusing—and how to fix it

    Ashish Mandavia, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • Mastering medical presentations: Elevating your impact

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Why the pre-med path is pushing future doctors to the brink

      Jordan Williamson, MEd | Education
    • Why what doctors say matters more than you think [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden incentives driving frivolous malpractice lawsuits

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why the pre-med path is pushing future doctors to the brink

      Jordan Williamson, MEd | Education
    • Why the fear of being forgotten is stronger than the fear of death [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How a rainy walk helped an oncologist rediscover joy and bravery

      Dr. Damane Zehra | Physician
    • How inspiration and family stories shape our most meaningful moments

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • A day in the life of a WHO public health professional in Meghalaya, India

      Dr. Poulami Mazumder | Physician
    • Why women doctors are still mistaken for nurses

      Emma Fenske, DO | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

Leave a Comment

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • Mastering medical presentations: Elevating your impact

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Why the pre-med path is pushing future doctors to the brink

      Jordan Williamson, MEd | Education
    • Why what doctors say matters more than you think [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden incentives driving frivolous malpractice lawsuits

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why the pre-med path is pushing future doctors to the brink

      Jordan Williamson, MEd | Education
    • Why the fear of being forgotten is stronger than the fear of death [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How a rainy walk helped an oncologist rediscover joy and bravery

      Dr. Damane Zehra | Physician
    • How inspiration and family stories shape our most meaningful moments

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Physician
    • A day in the life of a WHO public health professional in Meghalaya, India

      Dr. Poulami Mazumder | Physician
    • Why women doctors are still mistaken for nurses

      Emma Fenske, DO | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Leave a Comment

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...