MS4 Interested in Occupational Medicine

[Free411]

Hi,

I know there are threads about this particular field already, trust me, I've done the searches. I just want to know, from anyone currently in this field, what is the average starting salary? Or what kind of offers were you presented with when pursuing jobs?

My background is that I am currently an MS4 at a top 10 program who will have an MPH by the time of graduation. I have solid stats in regard to board scores and clerkship grades but nothing too crazy (think competitive for stuff like EM, anesthesia, maybe optho, etc.) I've been told by a mentor that my chances of getting into prev med are pretty high (not that it is even remotely competitive).

I have an interest in public health and clinical med and I feel that prev med/occ med route is the best way to merge those two interests. From a self-serving perspective, I like the lifestyle of occ med docs as I have shadowed in this field before.

Necessary specifications:
-I know they aren't making the "big bucks". That's fine with me. I'm the type of person, though, that with my debt level and current needs/tastes I could live happily on 200-220K/yr. It's just incredibly hard to find good salary info.
-I already know how the application process goes so I don't need that info.
-I know prev med and occ med are two different residencies. I plan to get double boarded.
-Obviously I can search average salary of X field on Google, but most of the sites are highly unreliable. I just want some ballparks numbers.

Thanks!

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[Free411]

I should also add that the reason I care about the average starting salary is not for materialistic reasons. I know it won't be EM, anesthesia numbers, but I have accrued enough in student loans that I do have to take these type of things into considerations. Fortunately, I won't have crushing debt and, thus, I can afford a career that starts around 200K or higher (just ballparking).

 

[efle]

Per the AMGA 2015 survey, Occupational is at a median of ~250k

https://physiciancompensation.org/PDFs/2015RSPWB/2015Survey.pdf#page=40

 

[Free411]

Per the AMGA 2015 survey, Occupational is at a median of ~250k

https://physiciancompensation.org/PDFs/2015RSPWB/2015Survey.pdf#page=40

Great! Thank you for sharing this. Definitely appreciate it!

 

[OccptlMed]

"could live happily on 200-220K/yr" - def possible working 4 days a week, in WA state.

 

[Free411]

"could live happily on 200-220K/yr" - def possible working 4 days a week, in WA state.

Thanks for your response! Looking at your username it appears you have some experience in occupational medicine. What kind salaries do you typically see for people starting in this field? For people with 5 or more years of experience? How would you describe the lifestyle? What is your personal experience in this field?

I know its not all about the money, but I have some experience shadowing an occupational med doc and I have an MPH, so the personal interest is there before thinking about money. As mentioned before just so you don't think my interests lie solely in the lifestyle (I feel that attending's tend to be understandably cynical on here sometimes as many med students don't fully understand what we're getting ourselves into haha) what first got me interested in this was a broader interest in public health, but still wanting to be clinical. I just feel that the workplace provides a pretty interesting opportunity to improve population health as most people spend the majority of their waking day at work. I felt I could merge clinical and pub health through prev med/occ med.

 

[VAoccmeddoc]

Thanks for your response! Looking at your username it appears you have some experience in occupational medicine. What kind salaries do you typically see for people starting in this field? For people with 5 or more years of experience? How would you describe the lifestyle? What is your personal experience in this field?

Hey
I'm wrapping up residency in OEM and have interviewed across the country. The initial offers I have received have been $220-$255k. Lower on the west coast in SoCal and Seattle, but I did receive one north of Seattle that was $235k. Doximity's salary map is the most accurate from what I've read and experienced.

The lifestyle is fantastic. I get to work around 8am and leave no later than 5:45, but most days by 5:15. No required weekend work ever, unless you're taking classes. You're in a good spot with a MPH going in. You'll just need to take a few OEM specific courses that the Board requires. I would discuss this during interviews though. Some programs may make you get a different Masters (MHA, MBA, MPA). I work some on weekend, but that's for passion projects that I'm happy to work on.

I just accepted a job that is $250k for 1.0 FTE, but I asked for 0.6 FTE so I can have time on other work and a medical directorship. It's not a glamorous field, and we are not connected with other services like you would be in hospital medicine. Sometimes that can feel isolating as a specialty. But there are many avenues within the field that allow OEM physicians to diversify their practice. I would caution against being an occ med "doc-in-the-box", where you're paid on RVU and see 30 patients/day. That job would be soul sucking. The cases are mostly MSK, so it's a little like sports medicine. In fact, we have to do a sports med rotation. Procedures are limited to injections. Some doctors say they hate workers' comp cases. From my perspective all specialties have their own difficult patients. The difference is WC pays better than subsidized insurance and we get to end care at a certain point.

With that said if I were you I would seek another specialty (FM, PMR) and then do OEM as a fellowship. The field is mostly an administration med specialty. Those that are previously boarded are going to have a lot more doors open for them and a safety net for worst case scenarios. Health system are eliminating Occ Med because they think it doesn't make money despite the downstream revenue it generates.

Good luck

 

[Free411]

Hey
I'm wrapping up residency in OEM and have interviewed across the country. The initial offers I have received have been $220-$255k. Lower on the west coast in SoCal and Seattle, but I did receive one north of Seattle that was $235k. Doximity's salary map is the most accurate from what I've read and experienced.

The lifestyle is fantastic. I get to work around 8am and leave no later than 5:45, but most days by 5:15. No required weekend work ever, unless you're taking classes. You're in a good spot with a MPH going in. You'll just need to take a few OEM specific courses that the Board requires. I would discuss this during interviews though. Some programs may make you get a different Masters (MHA, MBA, MPA). I work some on weekend, but that's for passion projects that I'm happy to work on.

I just accepted a job that is $250k for 1.0 FTE, but I asked for 0.6 FTE so I can have time on other work and a medical directorship. It's not a glamorous field, and we are not connected with other services like you would be in hospital medicine. Sometimes that can feel isolating as a specialty. But there are many avenues within the field that allow OEM physicians to diversify their practice. I would caution against being an occ med "doc-in-the-box", where you're paid on RVU and see 30 patients/day. That job would be soul sucking. The cases are mostly MSK, so it's a little like sports medicine. In fact, we have to do a sports med rotation. Procedures are limited to injections. Some doctors say they hate workers' comp cases. From my perspective all specialties have their own difficult patients. The difference is WC pays better than subsidized insurance and we get to end care at a certain point.

With that said if I were you I would seek another specialty (FM, PMR) and then do OEM as a fellowship. The field is mostly an administration med specialty. Those that are previously boarded are going to have a lot more doors open for them and a safety net for worst case scenarios. Health system are eliminating Occ Med because they think it doesn't make money despite the downstream revenue it generates.

Good luck

Awesome, thank you for your response! This is all super helpful and I will definitely weigh out doing FM vs PMR. What about people who do preventive medicine then go onto OEM? What do you think about that route? Or would Prev Med just not really contribute much to success in OEM?

 

[Free411]

Hey
I'm wrapping up residency in OEM and have interviewed across the country. The initial offers I have received have been $220-$255k. Lower on the west coast in SoCal and Seattle, but I did receive one north of Seattle that was $235k. Doximity's salary map is the most accurate from what I've read and experienced.

The lifestyle is fantastic. I get to work around 8am and leave no later than 5:45, but most days by 5:15. No required weekend work ever, unless you're taking classes. You're in a good spot with a MPH going in. You'll just need to take a few OEM specific courses that the Board requires. I would discuss this during interviews though. Some programs may make you get a different Masters (MHA, MBA, MPA). I work some on weekend, but that's for passion projects that I'm happy to work on.

I just accepted a job that is $250k for 1.0 FTE, but I asked for 0.6 FTE so I can have time on other work and a medical directorship. It's not a glamorous field, and we are not connected with other services like you would be in hospital medicine. Sometimes that can feel isolating as a specialty. But there are many avenues within the field that allow OEM physicians to diversify their practice. I would caution against being an occ med "doc-in-the-box", where you're paid on RVU and see 30 patients/day. That job would be soul sucking. The cases are mostly MSK, so it's a little like sports medicine. In fact, we have to do a sports med rotation. Procedures are limited to injections. Some doctors say they hate workers' comp cases. From my perspective all specialties have their own difficult patients. The difference is WC pays better than subsidized insurance and we get to end care at a certain point.

With that said if I were you I would seek another specialty (FM, PMR) and then do OEM as a fellowship. The field is mostly an administration med specialty. Those that are previously boarded are going to have a lot more doors open for them and a safety net for worst case scenarios. Health system are eliminating Occ Med because they think it doesn't make money despite the downstream revenue it generates.

Good luck

Also, what was the job market like? Were job offers/opportunities abundant or did you have to really scrap for those offers? You kind of hinted at this but where do you think the job market will be 5 years from now if you had to guess with current trends?

 

[Free411]

Hey
I'm wrapping up residency in OEM and have interviewed across the country. The initial offers I have received have been $220-$255k. Lower on the west coast in SoCal and Seattle, but I did receive one north of Seattle that was $235k. Doximity's salary map is the most accurate from what I've read and experienced.

The lifestyle is fantastic. I get to work around 8am and leave no later than 5:45, but most days by 5:15. No required weekend work ever, unless you're taking classes. You're in a good spot with a MPH going in. You'll just need to take a few OEM specific courses that the Board requires. I would discuss this during interviews though. Some programs may make you get a different Masters (MHA, MBA, MPA). I work some on weekend, but that's for passion projects that I'm happy to work on.

I just accepted a job that is $250k for 1.0 FTE, but I asked for 0.6 FTE so I can have time on other work and a medical directorship. It's not a glamorous field, and we are not connected with other services like you would be in hospital medicine. Sometimes that can feel isolating as a specialty. But there are many avenues within the field that allow OEM physicians to diversify their practice. I would caution against being an occ med "doc-in-the-box", where you're paid on RVU and see 30 patients/day. That job would be soul sucking. The cases are mostly MSK, so it's a little like sports medicine. In fact, we have to do a sports med rotation. Procedures are limited to injections. Some doctors say they hate workers' comp cases. From my perspective all specialties have their own difficult patients. The difference is WC pays better than subsidized insurance and we get to end care at a certain point.

With that said if I were you I would seek another specialty (FM, PMR) and then do OEM as a fellowship. The field is mostly an administration med specialty. Those that are previously boarded are going to have a lot more doors open for them and a safety net for worst case scenarios. Health system are eliminating Occ Med because they think it doesn't make money despite the downstream revenue it generates.

Good luck

Also, did you do another specialty before OEM? Or did you just do straight OEM?

 

[VAoccmeddoc]

- What about people who do preventive medicine then go onto OEM? What do you think about that route? Or would Prev Med just not really contribute much to success in OEM?
- what was the job market like? Were job offers/opportunities abundant or did you have to really scrap for those offers? You kind of hinted at this but where do you think the job market will be 5 years from now if you had to guess with current trends?
- Also, did you do another specialty before OEM? Or did you just do straight OEM?

- Prev med into OEM is for people that realize the Prev Med job market isn't great. You can get paid much more in OEM, so they add the OEM residency to gain those skills. But if you do OEM residency you can sit for the Prev Med boards if you can verify you've done X amount of hours in prev med, which isn't hard. We do enough to counseling and manage Wellness programs, so it's not really an issue after you finish residency.

- Job market can be great or disappointing depending on your goals. There are many doc-in-the-box operations where you see 25+ workers comp cases each day. Those places make profit on volume. The money will be great, but you'll likely burn out at some point. The best jobs have diverse revenue streams - work comp, pre placement, consulting, medical directorships, and research. Those are harder to come by unfortunately.

- I started in another specialty but left because I had prior work experience that complimented OEM. I wish I had done another med specialty and did this as a fellowship. You'll be in so much more demand and have more respect in the field. I have other work outside OEM that I do, so I'll be okay. I'm just saying for others who are considering going straight in that they should think hard. PMR is a great residency with an excellent life-work balance. It also compliments OEM well, especially if you do your own EMGs.

 

[rickmoranis]

Hey
I'm wrapping up residency in OEM and have interviewed across the country. The initial offers I have received have been $220-$255k. Lower on the west coast in SoCal and Seattle, but I did receive one north of Seattle that was $235k. Doximity's salary map is the most accurate from what I've read and experienced.

The lifestyle is fantastic. I get to work around 8am and leave no later than 5:45, but most days by 5:15. No required weekend work ever, unless you're taking classes. You're in a good spot with a MPH going in. You'll just need to take a few OEM specific courses that the Board requires. I would discuss this during interviews though. Some programs may make you get a different Masters (MHA, MBA, MPA). I work some on weekend, but that's for passion projects that I'm happy to work on.

I just accepted a job that is $250k for 1.0 FTE, but I asked for 0.6 FTE so I can have time on other work and a medical directorship. It's not a glamorous field, and we are not connected with other services like you would be in hospital medicine. Sometimes that can feel isolating as a specialty. But there are many avenues within the field that allow OEM physicians to diversify their practice. I would caution against being an occ med "doc-in-the-box", where you're paid on RVU and see 30 patients/day. That job would be soul sucking. The cases are mostly MSK, so it's a little like sports medicine. In fact, we have to do a sports med rotation. Procedures are limited to injections. Some doctors say they hate workers' comp cases. From my perspective all specialties have their own difficult patients. The difference is WC pays better than subsidized insurance and we get to end care at a certain point.

With that said if I were you I would seek another specialty (FM, PMR) and then do OEM as a fellowship. The field is mostly an administration med specialty. Those that are previously boarded are going to have a lot more doors open for them and a safety net for worst case scenarios. Health system are eliminating Occ Med because they think it doesn't make money despite the downstream revenue it generates.

Good luck

Hey
I'm wrapping up residency in OEM and have interviewed across the country. The initial offers I have received have been $220-$255k. Lower on the west coast in SoCal and Seattle, but I did receive one north of Seattle that was $235k. Doximity's salary map is the most accurate from what I've read and experienced.

The lifestyle is fantastic. I get to work around 8am and leave no later than 5:45, but most days by 5:15. No required weekend work ever, unless you're taking classes. You're in a good spot with a MPH going in. You'll just need to take a few OEM specific courses that the Board requires. I would discuss this during interviews though. Some programs may make you get a different Masters (MHA, MBA, MPA). I work some on weekend, but that's for passion projects that I'm happy to work on.

I just accepted a job that is $250k for 1.0 FTE, but I asked for 0.6 FTE so I can have time on other work and a medical directorship. It's not a glamorous field, and we are not connected with other services like you would be in hospital medicine. Sometimes that can feel isolating as a specialty. But there are many avenues within the field that allow OEM physicians to diversify their practice. I would caution against being an occ med "doc-in-the-box", where you're paid on RVU and see 30 patients/day. That job would be soul sucking. The cases are mostly MSK, so it's a little like sports medicine. In fact, we have to do a sports med rotation. Procedures are limited to injections. Some doctors say they hate workers' comp cases. From my perspective all specialties have their own difficult patients. The difference is WC pays better than subsidized insurance and we get to end care at a certain point.

With that said if I were you I would seek another specialty (FM, PMR) and then do OEM as a fellowship. The field is mostly an administration med specialty. Those that are previously boarded are going to have a lot more doors open for them and a safety net for worst case scenarios. Health system are eliminating Occ Med because they think it doesn't make money despite the downstream revenue it generates.

Good luck

Hi friend,
I’m hoping to revive this thread and am looking for insight from someone working in OEM. Let’s say that completing another residency like PM&R or FM just isn’t possible in my case, and that an OEM residency is my only option. Does this mean I’d be limited primarily to admin jobs? Not saying that I would necessarily mind that, but are jobs so scarce that one would actually have to worry about finding employment after residency???
I appreciate any advice.

 

[chilly_md]

Hi friend,
I’m hoping to revive this thread and am looking for insight from someone working in OEM. Let’s say that completing another residency like PM&R or FM just isn’t possible in my case, and that an OEM residency is my only option. Does this mean I’d be limited primarily to admin jobs? Not saying that I would necessarily mind that, but are jobs so scarce that one would actually have to worry about finding employment after residency???
I appreciate any advice.

The user you are directing to your question has not been active in over 2 years. They also indicated that it is primarily administration med in the post you quoted, with less of a market than larger specialties such as PM&R and FM. Please refrain from bumping old threads.

Closing.