Money Meets Medicine How Much Should You Be Paid as a Physician?
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Mar 4, 2026 Michael Johnson, a physician contract attorney and spouse of a physician, helps decode compensation and negotiation pitfalls. They cover why base salary can mislead. They explain RVUs, pay models, payer and patient mix, and how practice setting and geography shape real pay. They also highlight tricky contract clauses and the need to request compensation documents.
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Buy Disability Insurance During Training
- Do get own-occupation disability insurance as early as possible, ideally during training to lock in GSI and lower premiums.
- Jimmy warns pregnancy and new diagnoses post-training can make later coverage impossible or much costlier.
Dermatology Two Offers With Different True Pay
- Michael recounts a dermatology client with two identical $400k offers that paid different percentages of net collections.
- One practice's higher average collection per patient made it far more lucrative despite superficially identical offers.
How RVUs Drive Procedure Income Differences
- Understand RVUs as an exchange currency where different procedures generate different RVU totals and per-RVU rates vary.
- Jimmy uses colonoscopy (5 RVUs) vs total knee arthroplasty (30 RVUs) and notes employers may pay a set $/wRVU or percent of collections.