Neuro/Peds

[TicToc22]

Hey everyone,

PGY2 ophthalmology resident here interested in both neuro-ophth and peds. Is there a market in the private sector for someone trained in both? Ideally i'd like to work in a private practice and do some teaching in a local residency program, but not interested in clinical trials and the pressure/stress of true academics. Would i have any chance of making a reasonable salary?

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[orbitsurgMD]

Hey everyone,

PGY2 ophthalmology resident here interested in both neuro-ophth and peds. Is there a market in the private sector for someone trained in both? Ideally i'd like to work in a private practice and do some teaching in a local residency program, but not interested in clinical trials and the pressure/stress of true academics. Would i have any chance of making a reasonable salary?

Yes and yes.

Peds is underserved in many locations. Downside is relatively lower surgical income due to prevalence of Medicaid in the pediatric population which pays unreliably and poorly. Not every under-served area can support a pediatric ophthalmologist and being busy does not necessarily mean you will survive.

Neuro is similarly underserved in many areas. The skew is toward the Medicare population, which when combined with a pediatric patient population can make office logistics more challenging, at least in private practice. Neuro consultations have a lower yield of surgery and carry higher time demands. That is just the nature of that type of practice.

The combination of neuro and peds has been done successfully in academic settings with institutional support; in private practice, most doctors trained in both specialties tend to focus on one or the other, usually peds. Adult strabismus is usually only a very small part of any specialty practice, neuro or peds.

 

[speyeder]

I agree with the above. There is a great need for pediatric ophthalmologists. There was a study conducted by the AAO recently that predicted a shortage of peds ophthalmologists to diagnose & treat babies with ROP. As poorly as Medicaid pays, I think reimbursement may go up in order to attract more people to enter the field. I find it hard to believe that insurance companies would allow babies in need of ROP screening/treatment to fall by the wayside. Incidentally I have seen job postings for peds-ophtho with starting salaries of $200k or above.

There is also a great need for neuro-op. With peds though, it might be easier to find a job in private practice. With neuro, you might need to be in academics or be affiliated with an academic program because of the larger population needed to generate enough referrals to practice neuro-op full time.