2006 General Surgeon Salary and Employment Survey
 2006 General Surgeon Salary & Employment Survey (Printable
Format)
The Salary Survey
LocumTenens.com conducted its Annual General Surgeon Salary and Employment Survey in the early summer of 2006. Survey respondents represent general surgeons who practice on a locum tenens basis as well as those with permanent salaries. This report includes compensation and employment statistics for the field of general surgery including:
National annual compensation ranges
Sources for finding general surgey jobs
Time frame for making next job change
Influencing factors for seeking a general surgery job change
Discussion topics for interviews
Insights and remarks about the practice of general surgery today
Demographics for survey respondents include:
Board status
Gender
Years in practice
Frustrations with the current system
This survey showed that one of the biggest frustrations with medicine, across all specialties, is that the clinical practice of medicine is controlled by the business aspects. Respondents believe that in the current surgery system, health care decisions are often placed in the wrong hands. Administrators, drug companies, the government and even patients influence too much of the care that is provided, giving the general surgeon less control than ever before.
Average Annual Compensation
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Average Salary —
2006 Average General Surgeon Salary: $250,200
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| In addition to a salary, 19% of respondents receive a bonus or
other incentive valued at more than $20,000 each year.
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What frustrates you most about the practice of general surgery today?
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The top three frustrations are: |
#1: Reimbursement Issues.
#2: Medical liability Issues.
#3: Lifestlye Issue - too much time at work, not enough to enjoy life. |
Source for finding current job
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#1 Source for finding a new general surgery job was networking/word of mouth.Top reason for making a job change. |
*Other sources for finding a job include: military commitment, professional society or association, locum tenens to permanent. |
Time frame for making next job change
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58% of respondents have plans to make a job change within the next 3 years, more than half of which plan to do so within the next year. |
Top reason for making a job change
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39% of respondents cite better work environment or better community as the top reason for making a job change. |
Worked as a locum tenens provider?
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95% of respondents have either worked locum tenens or would consider it. |
Demography of survey respondents
At a Glance
Survey respondents were:
80% Board Certified, 17% Board
87% Male, 19% female
55% have been practicing for more more than 10 years
Permanent and Locum Tenens
Years in Practice
Board Status
Gender
Aside from compensation and benefits...
During the interview process, general surgeons are most interested in learning about the following:
Work with Anesthesiologists or CRNAs?
Hours, including night and weekend call, volume of cases after 3 pm, day after call off?
Day-to-day work environment
Number of patients seen a day, how much time is allotted for each patient?
Financial stability of group and relationship with hospital
Staff turnover rate, why did others leave the practice?
Payor mix
Community features, leisure and lifestyle - quality of schools, affordability of housing
Hospital dynamics
Case mix, volume of cases
Equipment at facility
Number of PCPs in the area and an estimate of how many general surgical consults/procedures are generated per PCP
Flexibility
Choose medicine again?
Compared to other specialties:
When asked if they would choose medicine again, here's how the other specialists' opinions compared:
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Yes |
No |
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| Radiology |
70% |
30% |
| Orthopedic Surgery |
57% |
43% |
| Psychiatry |
77% |
23% |
| Anesthesiology |
67% |
33% |
| Pediatrics |
70% |
30% |
| Obstetrics/Gyn |
56% |
44% |
| Internal Medicine |
70% |
30% |
If you could change one thing about the practice of medicine, what would it be?
“Return of the focus back to the patient-physician relationship and diminish the influence of commercial third-party payors.”
“The way we get paid.”
“More doctors, less work hours.”
“To always have a choice about how hard or not hard one is willing to work. Most hospital-based
practices have little time flexibility.”
“Get government out of medicine.”
“Less business, more medicine.”
“I would return the decision to care for thepatient back to the physician and not the insurance company.”
“There would be no third party involved with reimbursement.”
More than 14 percent of Americans lacked
health insurance in 2005
— National Center for Health Statistics
About LocumTenens.com
 Founded in 1995, LocumTenens.com is a full-service physician and CRNA recruiting firm
specializing in supplemental placement of anesthesiologists, radiologists, psychiatrists,
surgeons and CRNAs (certified registered nurse anesthetists) with U.S. hospitals, medical
groups and community health centers. LocumTenens.com is part of the Jackson
Healthcare family of companies.
In addition to full-service recruiting assistance, LocumTenens.com operates free job boards at www.LocumTenens.com which currently has more than 1200 radiology opportunities posted.
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